GM Nostr.
My most recent work project had me thinking about Marie Antoinette. I thought about how her character was assassinated (and we all know this resulted in her actual death) by highlighting her decadence as the reason for France’s bankruptcy, but how it was actually caused by decades of wars including the support of the American Revolution.
Anyway, what I thought about quite a bit was the village she constructed on the grounds of Versailles the Hameau de la Reine (The Queen’s Hamlet). She was deeply influenced by philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who argued that people should return to nature to find true virtue.
She wore muslin dresses and entertained guests at intimate dinners.
Political rivals accused her of cosplaying as a peasant while the real ones starved.
It was built as a place of peace but it became a primary weapon against her.
The Queen’s Hamlet is one of the earliest examples of escapist architecture. It shows a fundamental human need to reconnect with natural textures like stone, wood, and water (and muslin dresses) when life becomes too synthetic or high pressure.
During the French Revolution, while the palace was looted, the Hamlet was largely spared because it was actually a useful, productive farm. It fell into ruin afterward but was later restored by Napoleon and again by John D. Rockefeller in the 1920s.
