Louis XIV only used this chapel for five years since it was only completed in 1710. The one he went to most often, built in 1682 on the site of the Hercules salon, quickly proved to be too cramped. The wars however delayed the construction of the large chapel, opened in 1689 by Hardouin-Mansart. The architect did not see the end of construction as he died in 1708. That year, his brother-in-law Robert de Cotte replaced him, but the general lines of the architecture and decoration had been decided since 1699: a floor plan with a nave, side aisles and an ambulatory, an elevation with galleries, a harmony of white and gold contrasting with the polychromy of the ornamental marble tiling and paintings of the vault; resulting in an original work where influences of gothic architecture and baroque aesthetics mix.
Each day, generally at 10 a.m., the Court would attend the king’s mass. The king would sit in the royal gallery, surrounded by his family. The ladies of the Court occupied the side galleries. The “officers” and the public sat in the nave. The king would only go down to the nave for important religious celebrations during which he received communion, for the Order of the Holy Spirit ceremonies, the baptisms and weddings of the Children of France which were celebrated there between 1710 and 1789.
Above the altar, around the Cliquot organ played by the greatest maestros like François Couperin, the Music of the Chapel, renowned across Europe, would sing motets each day throughout the entire church service.
