AT A GLANCE
Why go?
The Royal Courtyard (Cour Royale) is the intimate, ticketed inner court of the Palace of Versailles, tucked behind the gilded Royal Gate and the broad Main Courtyard. It is the threshold most visitors pass through on their way to the Marble Courtyard, the State Apartments and the Hall of Mirrors, so its grand arcaded façades set the scene for everything that follows.↗↗
Far from being a mere transit point, the courtyard is a masterpiece of stagecraft in stone: nearly a hundred sculpted busts of Roman emperors and figures of antiquity line its elevations, a deliberate "new Rome" created for Louis XIV. Today the Royal Courtyard is also the practical heart of the visit, where the audioguide desk, the Palace's main entrances and a famous tea room all converge.↗↗
The heart of the royal approach
Versailles greets you in layers of courtyards, and the Royal Courtyard is the last, most private one before the palace proper. You reach it by passing the security check at the Main Gate, crossing the vast Cour d'Honneur framed by the Ministers' Wings, and walking through the Dufour Pavilion. Beyond that point you are inside the restored Grille Royale (Royal Gate), and entry now requires a ticket: this is the reserved core that gives access to the various visitor circuits of the Palace.
