Under Louis XIV, France became the most powerful land power in Western Europe. Considerable territorial expansion was achieved through a series of wars which were hugely expensive in lives and money. By the end of the reign in 1715 the state was almost bankrupt.
Despite the warfare, there were immense cultural achievements : in drama the works of Corneille, Molière and Racine ; in architecture the building of the palace of Versailles ; in music, the operas of Lully.
This exhibition looks at various aspects of French life in the seventeenth century, including taxation, warfare, trade and religion.
The exhibition is entirely drawn from the very rich visual and textual resources of Trinity College Library which has the finest collection of seventeenth-century French books in Ireland.
Proudly supported by Veolia Environment and the Cultural Service of the French Embassy in Ireland
Exhibition "Troubled Magnificence : France under Louis XIV"
12 October 2011 - 1 April 2012
Long Room, Trinity College Library, Dublin
Admission to this exhibition also includes viewing the Book of Kells exhibition. See www.bookofkells.ie for details.
www.tcd.ie
