Tour audio Walking trail - Notre-Dame district

Discover the Notre Dame district in Versailles, on foot. A 3.6 km cultural walk passing through emblematic places of the city.

The Notre-Dame district is the oldest district of Versailles. It was built by Louis XIV to beautify the surroundings of the castle.

King Louis XIV undertook to create this district to the north of the Castle, on virgin land, in order to beautify the surroundings. The inhabitants settled little by little from 1671, building according to precise rules along streets that were surprisingly straight and wide for the time.

The district is still structured around the original institutions: visit the Notre-Dame church, which was the king's parish, stroll around the bailiwick hotel which housed the local court under the Ancien Régime and which is today at the heart of the picturesque antiques district.

You will be irresistibly drawn to the Notre-Dame squares, particularly noisy and lively on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday mornings: they have the reputation of being the best market in the region!

Not far away, you will also find the Montansier theater, opened in 1777, and the Hoche square, originally the Dauphine square, the first octagonal square in France.

A few steps away, housed in a charming 18th century mansion, the Lambinet museum will immerse you in the atmosphere of a period mansion, unless you prefer to discover the collections on the history of the city of Versailles and the French Revolution...