The great golden gate of Versailles: On this fateful day 227 years ago, Louis XVI and his family were escorted through it by the mob on their way to Paris, never to return.  Thus ended what I call THE VERSAILLES CENTURY (1682-1789).

The golden gate seen from inside the Cour d’honneur, which is how the King and his family would have seen it on 6 October, 1789, except that it had been broken off its hinges shortly before.  You can just make out the great stables through the grille.

The mob had burst through the gate shortly before midnight on 5 October, howling for the Queen’s blood.  Marie-Antoinette barely managed to escape from her bedroom through a secret passage to the King’s room. The advance of the mob had been delayed just long enough while they massacred the Swiss guards on duty outside the Queen’s room.