The grounds around a palace built by Louis XIV is hosting Olympic events

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

At the Olympics in Paris, it's hard to choose which venue is the grandest - beach volleyball held at the foot of the Eiffel Tower or fencing held inside the turn-of-the-century exhibition hall, the Grand Palais. We're going to take you to a third contender. The equestrian events were held on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles. NPR sports correspondent Becky Sullivan went to check it out.

BECKY SULLIVAN, BYLINE: In my life, I have been to a lot of stadiums and arenas, some of them in pretty nice places, like leafy college campuses, ballparks, on the water with a city view. But I admit nothing has quite been like the Palace of Versailles.

LAURENT SALOME: So we have arrived on the central terrace of the palace. We see the Olympic site in the end at the Etoile Royale, which is...

SULLIVAN: I'm on a tour with Laurent Salome. He's the director of the National Museum here. We're standing behind the palace, looking over its huge estate. There are almost 2,000 acres here and something amazing to see in every direction - intricate gardens, lush forests, ornate fountains and the grand canal stretching a mile away toward the horizon. The Olympic event is right on the other side of the long canal, perfectly lined up with the magnificent view from the palace.

We can see - from up here on the terrace, we can see just directly into the stands of that equestrian event. There's dressage taking place today. And it's amazing to think that the people who are in the stands looking back have this grand view.

SALOME: This view. I can tell you the view, it's a view we had never seen before because it's quite high. So when you're up there, you see the palace much better than you do when you're just walking in the park. So it's incredible.

SULLIVAN: To some, it could seem like a kind of sacrilege to hold Olympic events somewhere so historic. But Salome argues the opposite. At Versailles, there is a long and rich history of horses, and the Olympics were a chance to continue that legacy.

SALOME: It's really a great celebration of horses, where they belong, in Versailles, where they've always been so central.

SULLIVAN: In fact, even before there was a palace, the French king, Louis XIII, first built a hunting lodge here, where he'd come to escape the hustle and bustle of court to hunt with his horses and dogs. The garden paths and lines of sight that are still here today were once the routes into the forest the king would follow to begin his hunts, Salome says.

SALOME: So that's maybe one of the reasons why it feels so natural to have it here and in the center of the perspective, rather than just thinking, OK, we have space; we can hide it somewhere in the woods.

SULLIVAN: After the Games are over, the venue will be dismantled and the grounds returned to their normal state. During the competitions, riders are, of course, focused on their event. They can't stop to enjoy the view. So Olympian Evelina Bertoli came back to the palace after her event.

EVELINA BERTOLI: I'm looking from the other side now (laughter) because we had the view of the Versailles, and now I'm looking to the stadium. And I just feel the emotions.

SULLIVAN: At these Olympics, she represented Italy in equestrian eventing, where riders compete in dressage, jumping and a cross-country course. She didn't win a medal, but to participate in this centuries-long legacy of horses here was like a dream come true, she says.

BERTOLI: With the public, with the castle, with the water. Just amazing.

SULLIVAN: The palace looks its best right now. The estate is so massive that usually, there's some sort of renovation happening somewhere. But they made sure everything was wrapped in time for the Games.

JACQUELINE GODET: (Speaking French).

SULLIVAN: Jacqueline Godet and her husband, Olivier, had come to Paris to see the Olympics. They're French. They live in Lyon. They've seen Versailles before. But this time, even they are feeling in awe.

GODET: (Speaking French).

SULLIVAN: To be able to show the world a little bit of what we have here in France, she says, makes her feel proud to be French.

Becky Sullivan, NPR News, Versailles.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HYMNE A L'AMOUR")

EDITH PIAF: (Singing in French). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.