The Grand Trianon palace was designed and built by Louis XIV’s architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart in 1687. Italianate in style, it features a « Peristyle » opening to the main courtyard on one side and to the gardens on the other. The Grand Trianon peristyle is a covered colonnade that provides the transition between the two wings. There is extensive use of Caunes-Minervois marble (reddish Languedoc marble) in the palace’s construction. The striking red colour of the massive Languedoc marble columns provides a masterful contrast with the black and white marble checked pattern paving at their feet, flanked by French limestone flagstones and steps.
Antique marble checkerboard floor at Versailles’ Grand Trianon Palace
These photos show this dramatic check pattern of black and white marble and the adjacent transitions to French limestone, a truly refined paving solution in such an exceptional location.
Our Black & white marble comparable to Grand Trianon
BCA can supply comparable paving. Rest assured none of BCA’s stocks of salvaged stone flooring or paving have been plundered from any of France’s precious “Monuments Historiques”. You can view current stocks of our Truly Reclaimed antique stone check floors via this link, along with new “antiqued” alternatives that are both more economic and available in greater quantities, and we can make-to-measure too.
Traditional Black & White Marble paving at the Palace of Versailles
The photos were taken at the Grand Trianon at Versailles in October 2025.
Author of the article "The Black & White Marble Paving at the Grand Trianon Palace, Versailles"
Written 19th October 2025 – Article and photos by David Ackers.
David is BCA’s long-term consultant, following a long career as an Interior Architect in France, member and ex-regional Président de Région Normandie of France’s Union National des Architectes d’Intérieur – Designers (UNAID), ex-member of the British Institute of Interior Design (BIID).
