The Estates-General convenes on May 5, 1789, amid general festivities, in an elaborate but temporary Île des États set up in one of the courtyards of the official Hôtel des Menus Plaisirs in the town of Versailles near the royal château.

With the étiquette of 1614 strictly enforced, the clergy and nobility range in tiered seating in their full regalia, while the physical locations of the deputies from the Third Estate are at the far end, as dictated by the protocol.