Historical story

Toilets in Versailles:Beautiful and… Useless

Personal hygiene in the 1700s (painting by Francois Boucher). In Versailles there were toilets, but they were practically never used

As is known, at the palace of Versailles the apparent splendor actually concealed an unimaginable dirt, both of the environments and of the people who lived there (https://www.pilloledistoria.it/4833/storia-moderna/versailles-sali-odorosi-per-profumare-stanze-sporche and https://www.pilloledistoria.it/ 1649 / modern-history / versailles-hairstyles-lice).

However this does not mean that the toilets were not present, on the contrary, they were many and richly worked and embellished with gold, silver and ivory friezes, only they were never or almost never used.

The chamber pot of the king for example, it was a real work of art :in the finest chiseled gilded silver, it was also one of the few personal hygiene items to be used (thankfully!).

In principle, the nobles of the time never washed themselves and the welcoming toilets in the building ended up fulfilling a mere and completely useless function ... decorative.