凡爾賽宮的建造始于一片沼澤
It was here, in a stretch of mosquito-infested marshland,
就在這片蚊蟲滋生的澤地里
that Louis, the 27-year-old King of France,
27歲的法王路易
decided to construct his new palace,
決心建造他的新殿
near a small and unremarkable country town called Versailles.
比鄰平凡的鄉(xiāng)下小鎮(zhèn)凡爾賽
His courtiers were far from impressed.
他的幕僚們大為驚訝
It was almost as though Louis,
路易似乎
had deliberately picked the worst possible site for his magnificent palace,
故意為自己宏偉的宮殿 定下了最糟糕的選址
in order to prove to the world that his will was greater than nature.
以此向世界展現(xiàn)他的意志超越自然
Louis had a sentimental reason for choosing Versailles.
路易選擇凡爾賽亦有感性因素
It was the site of his father's old hunting lodge,
這里是他父親舊日的狩獵行宮
and as a boy, he'd played and hunted here.
孩童時期 路易曾在此玩耍狩獵
The original chateau of Louis' father was on top of a hill.
路易父王曾經的行宮坐落在山頭
The problem, if you wanted to turn it,
若要把它改造成規(guī)模巨大的宮殿
into a whacking great palace,
即將面臨的問題就是
was that you weren't going to be building on flat land.
無法將宮殿建造在平坦地面上
Louis was told, this is not a great place,
幕僚紛紛建言 此地并非
for a big expansion of your father's chateau.
擴建父王行宮的最佳選址
As a monarch with absolute power,
作為絕對專權的君主
Louis wasn't used to being told what to do.
路易既不習慣于聽命于他人
And he didn't much like it.
也不屑于此
From the outset, Louis was thinking big.
從一開始 路易便心懷宏圖偉業(yè)
He started by hiring the greatest architect of the age,
他開始雇傭當代最偉大的建筑師
Louis Le Vau, to transform the hunting lodge,
路易斯·勒沃 要求他
into the palace of his dreams.
將狩獵行宮變?yōu)閴艋玫钣?/p>