stair in the left wing in the manner of the Ambassadors' Staircase at Versailles. André Le Nôtre replanned the gardens, and the park took on the dimensions it retains today. The Grande Cascade, constructed by Le Pautre in 1664-65, has survived. Hardouin-Mansart added the basin and the lowermost canal in 1698. A total of 156,000 livres is estimated to have been spent over the years. 18th century Saint-Cloud descended in the family of Monsieur's heirs, the Dukes of Orléans, and remained in their hands for most of the 18th century. After protracted negotiations, the château de Saint-Cloud was bought in 1785 by Louis XVI for Marie Antoinette, who was convinced that the air there would be good for her children. Louis Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans, who had not visited the château since his morganatic marriage with Madame de Montesson, was induced to part with it for 6,000,000 livres. After the sale of the palace was officially finished, Marie Antoinette set about transforming her new private home. She set to transforming Saint-Cloud in 1787-88 by her preferred architect Richard Mique, who enlarged the corps de logis and the adjacent half of the right wing; he rebuilt the garden front. Hardouin-Mansart's staircase was demolished in favour of new stone stairs leading into the state apartments. The château was at first refurnished from the Garde Meuble with furnishings collected from other royal residences, but soon furniture was commissioned for Saint-Cloud. Gilded chairs and marquetry commodes with gilt-bronze mounts in the richest Louis XVI style were being delivered to Saint-Cloud right up to the opening days of the French Revolution. In 1790, Saint-Cloud was the setting for the famous interview between Marie Antoinette and Mirabeau. The château was declared a bien national and emptied by the Revolutionary sales. The Saint-Cloud orangery was the setting for the coup d'état of 18 Brumaire (10 November 1799), in which the Directoire was suppressed and the Consulat declared. Napoléon Bonaparte was proclaimed Emperor of the French on 18 May 1804 at Saint-Cloud. Saint-Cloud was later used by the Emperor’s family and was their main seat along with the Palais des Tuileries in Paris. 19th century Napoleon made Saint-Cloud his preferred residence and transformed the Salon de Vénus to a throne room, which Saint-Cloud had naturally lacked, but neither he nor the occupants to follow did much more to Saint-Cloud than interior decoration. When the Prussians captured it