At the moment there is a beautiful exposition in the Château de Versailles:
Le Roi est mort.
On September 1st 1715, after a week of slow agony, Louis XIV de Bourbon passed away, just before his 77th birthday. A reign of 72 years ended, the longest in the history of France. Another reign almost as long began: that of the late King's great-grandson Louis XV de Bourbon (1715-1774).
On his return from hunting in the Forêt de Marly, the King felt a sharp pain in his leg. Gangrene... Despite the unbearable pains, the King continued with his usual daily businesses without flinching. But on 25 August, Louis' feast day, the King had to remain in his bed. The doctors were helpless. On the same day King Louis XIV received his Heir, his great-grandson Louis de Bourbon, Duc d'Anjou, aged 5 (the future Louis XV). The old King recommended his great-grandson to relieve his people’s suffering and avoid war as far as possible. The King was aware of his own failings on these points and requested the boy to remain a “peace-loving prince”.
The King's death took longer than expected. For three times the King said his Farewell to his spouse Françoise d'Aubigny, Marquise de Maintenon. And for two times the King made his Farewell to the Court.
King Louis XIV finally went into a semi-coma lasting the next two days. The old King died on 1 September in the morning. His body was on view for eight days in the Grande Galerie. On 9 September the late King was transported to Saint-Denis, with the grandest ceremonial possible. The King's nephew Philippe, Duc d'Orléans became Regent of the Kingdom until the majority of the new King (Louis XV).
A reconstruction of how the King was laid-in-state at Versailles
A reconstruction of the King's bier (catafalque) at the Abbaye de Saint-Denis
Hi, Sun Lion! 
