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Article: Party palaces.(ARTS & CULTURE: The Art of the Party: That's entertainment! Social gatherings in books, film and other creative milieus.)
- Article from:
- Town & Country
- Article date:
- November 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Hearst Communications, reprinted with permission of Hearst. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The perfect party space is like a wineglass: it's a vessel meant to be filled. It's a place that's made whole by revelers enjoying food, drink and one another, and enlivened by all the noise they create. The ideal is the dazzling Galerie des Glaces, or Hall of Mirrors, in the Chateau de Versailles, designed by Charles Le Brun and built and constructed between 1678 and 1684. Three hundred and fifty-seven mirrors facing seventeen windows bathe guests in unforgettable light. Le Brun's ceiling frescoes vaunt the grandeur of the Sun King, Louis XIV, and, by extension, anyone fortunate enough to be invited there.
In St. Petersburg, the Winter Palace, the core of the ...