Louis XIV's bathtub

Louis XIV's aim in building the Château de Versailles was naturally political—he wanted to move away from Paris where the people were so disobedient and be able to accommodate the Court away from his fiefs for example—but it was also a means of demonstrating his power as the Sun King.

He had a suite of bathing rooms built in the palace, richly decorated with works of art and marble statues, that were supposed to rival the palaces of Rome. Yet the octagonal bathtub was to finish up as a fountain in the palace gardens, for the doctors still considered bathing to be dangerous. The king washed his face and hands... and masked his bodily odors with a great deal of perfumes and cosmetics.