VERSAILLES, France, June 25 — For much of the last three years visitors to the Château de Versailles have had good reason to feel disappointed: The Hall of Mirrors, the palace’s most glittering jewel, has been undergoing extensive restoration, with only about half of its 220-foot-long gallery visible at any one time.

This week, after a $16 million makeover, the full spectacle finally resumed, with the hall looking, as closely as possible, the way it first appeared to Louis XIV in 1684. With its 357 mirrors, 17 glass doors, marble walls, chandeliers and ceiling paintings, it remains — as was the Sun King’s intent — a sight breathtaking in its majesty.

Yet the hall is not as good as new. Time has left its marks, and while these are not evident to most visitors, experts know where the nips and tucks are hidden. Describing the gallery as “a dazzling old lady,” Frédéric Didier, the chief architect overseeing France’s historical monuments, said, “All the wrinkles in her face tell a story.”

Still, while repairs to the hall were ordered within 15 years of its opening, this is the first time in more than three centuries that it has been cleaned and restored from top to bottom: from the 30 paintings by Charles Le Brun that decorate the length of the vaulted ceiling to the 8,460 square feet of parquet flooring.