Tea at Trianon: Restoration of Versailles’ Royal Chapel

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, July 8, 2019

Restoration of Versailles’ Royal Chapel

From GMA News Online:

The Royal Chapel at the Palace of Versailles, the final great building work undertaken in the reign of Louis XIV, is undergoing a painstaking restoration that is expected to be finished within 18 months. The intricate work to clean and restore its extraordinary windows, statues and other features is being carried out under the strictest security measures to avoid any repeat of the fire that severely damaged Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris in April.

The chapel was completed in 1710 after over a decade of work during the final years of the reign of Louis XIV, the so-called Sun King who ruled for 72 years and was famed for the splendor of his court. The restoration includes the roof timbers, decorative lead work, the statues and stained glass windows.

Workers restore the stone sculptures in the walls using photographs to ensure complete fidelity to the original. The restoration is literally under wraps, with the chapel surrounded by a protective canvas that conceals the restoration work from visitors standing in long queues to enter the palace.

The canvas, which evokes the majestic structure's interior, covers a web of scaffolding with the statues of holy figures peeping out of the metalwork. Restoration of the chapel was "one of the urgent priorities" when Catherine Pegard, a former journalist, became head of the palace complex in 2011, she said.

The restoration is only the second major such work on the building in its history, with the last taking place from 1875 to 1878, when France was weakened by war with Prussia and not able to devote a lot of resources to the work. "Today we are doing this as Versailles deserves it," said Frederic Didier, the architect overseeing the restoration. The work is taking part under the strictest conditions, especially after the fire that broke out in Notre-Dame on April 15, when the great Paris cathedral was itself undergoing restoration. (Read more.)