Marie Antoinette's private apartment at France's Palace of Versailles reopens to the public after five years of restoration

Marie Antoinette's private Versailles quarters reopen after restoration.

The Palace of Versailles has reopened the private rooms of France's last queen, Marie Antoinette, after five years of intricate restoration.

The restored apartment, which features 100 square metres of luxurious living space where the queen played with her children and hosted friends, reopens as part of Versailles' ongoing 400th anniversary celebrations.

It is the final part of a restoration of the queen's Hamlet and Trianon — a series of cottages and getaways built away from the main palace.

Marie Antoinette's apartment includes a boudoir, library and billiard room. She accessed the refuge through a secret door hidden in her official bedroom.

The decoration reproduces that from 1784, the most documented year. Objects which belonged to Marie Antoinette are also being displayed.

A turned-ivory clock by Jean-Antoine Lepine (circa 1770) in the dining room
(Reuters: Noemie Olive)

Hélène Delalex, heritage conservation manager at the palace, says the restored space "gives a very accurate and faithful portrait of Marie Antoinette".

"A sort of portrait of the place where all the traits of her personality come to the fore: her incredible audacity, her impatience, her exacting standards — she only wanted the best — her taste for always being up to date, a taste that can be very changeable," she says.

"And then there's the way in which, year after year, she withdraws into this sort of inner labyrinth that is these spaces, which truly are a maze."

The palace welcomed nearly 7 million visitors last year.
(Reuters: Noemie Olive)

It gives a "new understanding of history, with this paradox between public and private life, etiquette and intimacy, an extraordinary summary of history within a few square metres", says Catherine Pegard, who runs the palace.

The site, which welcomed nearly 7 million visitors last year, dates to late 1623 when King Louis XIII ordered the expansion of a small hunting lodge on the 800-hectare site.

The palace is also preparing a new gallery dedicated to its history, to open in September.

"At Versailles, the work never ends," said Ms Pegard, who has overseen a wide array of restorations since taking over in 2011.

These have included the Buffet d'eau Fountain, the apartments of Louis XV's son, the Dauphin Louis-Ferdinand, as well as those of his favourite mistress, Jeanne du Barry.

First published at ABC News, June 27 2023  

AFP/Reuters