The Château de Versailles, which has been on UNESCO’s World Heritage List for 30 years, is one of the most beautiful achievements of 18th-century French art and architecture. The palace had its beginnings as a humble hunting lodge built by Louis XIII in the country village of Versailles, but Louis XIV chose to build a majestic physical manifestation of his power in the lodge's place and move the court and government to the site in order to secure his position as king after the Fronde. Each of the three French kings who lived there until the French Revolution added improvements to make it more beautiful. As well as being the seat of power in France until 1789, Versailles has come to embody both royal absolutism and classical French art.