A historian

ART RESTORATION AND CONSERVATION. Cont'd.

Versailles Having A Face Lift.

Photo: King Louis XIV, by Rigaud, 1770

A historian, Christian Biet, told the newspaper Libération that by the 1940s Versailles was crumbling. "It had lost its image as the ultimate emblem of grandeur and perfection," he said. "Only a hit 1953 Sacha Guitry film about the Sun King changed things. Now it is on the Unesco world heritage list and the most visited historic building in Europe." Later in the renovation program, the chateau's administrative offices will be moved to the Grand Commun, a 17th-century outbuilding which originally held the court's staff and servants but was taken over by the army as a military hospital. A research centre on life at the Sun King's court will also be created there. Other longer-term projects include the restoration of the main building's facades, the rebuilding of a magnificent staircase in the north wing pulled down in the 19th century, the renovation of the backstage equipment in the Opera Royal, and the replanting of the palace gardens according to original plans. But the most spectacular transfiguration will be the renovation of the chateau's vast forecourt and the reappearance of the once-celebrated Grille Royale, or Royal Railing - a three-metre-high (10ft) gilded fence which in Louis XIV's day stretched from wing to wing, barring access to the inner courtyards and the king's and queen's apartments.

The Sun King would be pleased indeed.

Enduring charm of grand excess:

· Versailles has 12 miles of roads, 200,000 trees, 50 fountains, 2,150 windows, 67 staircases, 6,000 paintings, 1,500 drawings, 2,100 sculptures and 5,000 pieces of furniture

· It employs 600 people and runs on an annual budget, from ticket sales, of £24m

· Famous visitors include Peter the Great, Benjamin Franklin, Queen Victoria, the Queen, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Diana, Princess of Wales, Fidel Castro and Michael Jackson

· Playwrights and musicians to have put on shows there include: Molière, Racine, Telemann, Mozart, Berlioz, Fauré, Saint-Saens, Jessye Norman, Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Barbara Hendricks, Riccardo Muti, Jean Michel Jarre and Pink Floyd

· Films shot there include Danton (Andrei Wajda, 1982), Valmont (Milos Forman, 1988), Dangerous Liaisons (Stephen Frears, 1988) and Jefferson in Paris (James Ivory, 1994)

Some History: Construction

From the Desk of Marie-Louise de Chambertin with Data from Chateau de Versailles. Courtesy of World Art Celebrities Journal (Paris), http://www.worldartcelebritiesjournal.com

The Old Chateau: Back in 1623, Louis XIII - father of Louis XIV - built a 'hunting lodge, a little gentleman's chateau' of brick, stone, and slate at Versailles. The king liked it so much that he soon had it enlarged by his 'royal engineer and architect', Philibert Le Roy (this early chateau survives in the buildings that flank the Marble Courtyard). Then from 1661 to 1668 the young Louis XIV, known as the Sun King had his own architect, Louis Le Vau, embellish the residence. Yet this little house of cards', as the memorialist Duc de Saint-Simon called it, remained too small. Extensions were deemed necessary.
The New Chateau: Le Vau was once again charged with carrying out the work. From 1668 to 1670 he built the 'envelope', which Saint-Simon severely criticized for contrasting with the old chateau: 'the beautiful and the ugly, the vast and the restricted, were stitched together'. Indeed, Le Vau's 'envelope' entailed wrapping the old chateau in a second building whose uniformly white stone facades served as a fine garden setting. Work on this building, whose central terrace was inspired by Italian baroque villas, was taken up by François d'Orbay on Le Vau's death in 1670. It houses the State Apartments.

Versailles Having A Face Lift.

Some History: Construction

From the Desk of Marie-Louise de Chambertin with Data from Chateau de Versailles. Courtesy of World Art Celebrities Journal (Paris), http://www.worldartcelebritiesjournal.com

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