Experience Royal Versailles Virtually with Alliance Française Silicon Valley  

If you want to begin the holiday season with queenly flair, do it at the Palace of Versailles where French royalty excelled at parties.

The Alliance Française Silicon Valley (AFSV) is holding a live virtual event featuring the extravagant celebrations and entertainment at Versailles as only queens and kings can do, all experienced from Palo Alto in Silicon Valley

Celebrations and Entertainment at Versailles will be broadcast live from the Palace of Versailles on December 8, 2024 to Palo Alto’s Mitchell Park Community Center. It promises to immerse Palo Alto viewers by transporting them virtually to the rooms and halls that hosted royal events while imagining the extravagance of dress, dance and music required to meet the royal standard. It is the final part of the Live Morning at a French Museum: Versailles series. 

Presenting in English live from Versailles will be expert virtual guide Philippe Maillet, a lecturer collaborating with the Louvre, the Orsay Museums and Versailles Palace to make art accessible and engaging for audiences. Maillet will use a videotelephone software program that incorporates 360-degree photo technology that provides an experience similar to Google Street View. It allows viewers to virtually explore various spaces as if they were looking all around. High-definition photographs will also be integrated to enhance the visual appeal and immersive experience.

Versailles was known for its dazzling festivities of dances, balls, gambling, comedies, operas and concerts. King Louis XIV transformed the palace into a hub of European cultural and social life with his grand entertainments. His successors continued the party until the French Revolution. 

A Q&A session at the Palo Alto location will follow the virtual tour. It will be in both French and English and led by Véronique Vassout, Cultural Advisor at AFSV.

The event in Palo Alto will conclude with a live demonstration of the meneut (minuet), the official dance of the court starting with Louis XIV. It will be performed by Jennifer Meller, Professor of Baroque Dance at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Guests can also take a menuet dance lesson with Meller following her demonstration. Meller will wear a Rococo dance costume and guests are encouraged to attend dressed as 17th century partygoers too. The AFSV will provide masks to everyone.

So start celebrating the season by enjoying the party at the Palace of Versailles with AFSV and learn how to dance meneut on your toes.

Celebrations and Entertainment at Versailles 

Sunday December 8 2024 

9:30am – 11:30am PST. Doors open at 8:30am PST 

Held at Mitchell Park Community Center, 3700 Middlefield Road Palo Alto, CA 94303