Opulence and Oppression

Versailles...Despite the fact that I've been reading about this palace in fiction and history books alike since third grade, I didn't really have a frame of reference to understand the sheer size, opulence, and weight of history behind this building. (Turns out, the USA is severely lacking in giant, ornate, centuries-old palaces.) It was breathtaking--King Louis XIV had GREAT tastes. From the golden gates to the seemingly-endless maze of perfectly-maintained gardens to the ENTIRE PICTURESQUE VILLAGE built for Marie Antoinette,

this seat of the French monarchy seemed almost otherworldly. However, although the decor is delicate, the message is not: Versailles was made to awe and overwhelm, and it succeeds. Versailles was also made to humiliate and bring the unruly nobility of France under one man's impeccable, red-heeled shoe. It succeeded. In the course of one man's life, the entire relationship between the nobility and the king was changed, with all of the power and wealth in France revolving around the Sun King. In addition, Versailles did not build itself, and the materials were not cheap. In times when the standard of living for the average peasant was terrible, the royal family was living in a massive palace with completely unnecessary amounts of precious metals scattered about.
The contrast between Versailles' beauty, its cost, and its function begs a question: can incredible, monumental works of art like this palace exist without oppression of some kind? The amount of financing it takes to build anything beautiful and monumental would require a huge group effort if the money were acquired completely fairly, but brilliant achievements are seldom accomplished by large groups. After all, most genius deviates from the accepted norms of the time, which in and of itself excludes execution by groups that are inherently, well...normal. Hence, I am left with some questions: can buildings like Versailles can only be built by the sacrifice--often the unwilling sacrifice--of many people? How do we reconcile the value of beauty and extraordinary human accomplishment with the value of the rights and happiness of the ordinary man?