The flame finials
Among the ornaments of the Cour de Marbre and the Cour royale, fifty-eight flame finials of around 1.40 meter high adorn the balustrade. In 1679-1680, during their creation, they were not flame finials because the pattern that came out of these Medicis-shaped vases was not a flame but a fleur-de-lis as it is shown by an ancient drawing. It is in 1814 that the fleurs-de-lis having been destroyed during the Revolution were replaced by mistake. There are two models of vase: forty-six have their body adorned with ram heads and twelve with lion heads.
Copy in place of a flame finial with a lion’s mask surmounted of a flame (inv. Vdse 70.) © Sygma/Stephane Compoint
Statues
On the balustrade that runs around of the Cour de Marbre and the Cour Royale, eighteen statues modelled in the round and around 2 meters high symbolize the fourteen royal virtues and the four parts of the world, since the glory of the King must resonate all over the universe. For the parts of the world, the pair formed by Asia and the North side of Europe is opposite to this of Africa and the South side of America. While Asia and Europe are copies, Africa, from Etienne Le Hongre, and America, from Thomas Regnaudin, are still those that have been laid in 1679. Made of marcassite, they both represent two seated women: Africa, covered with a elephant mask, lies on an amphora and its foot stands on a lion’s head; America, covered and encircled with feather and whose one of the feet lies on a crocodile’s head, used to stand on an arch that has disappeared today.
Within the frame of the general restoration of the stage left facades scheduled for the "Grand Versailles", an in situ restoration of all these sculptures is supposed to take place. This will consist in consolidations, cement resurfacings, restitutions of lacks or replacements with Saint-Leu stone.
Group of Africa (inv. Vdse 55.) and America (inv. Vdse 56.) located at the balustrade of the Cour de Marbre, south side © Sygma/Stephane Compoint
The decorative frieze
At the back of the Cour de Marbre, the decorative frieze located at the crest of the roof is formed of alternated patterns: crown, sceptre, hand of justice and grand drapery border with a mask of Apollo; basket of flowers and mask of satyr; volutes, festoons and griffin heads. All these embossments made of metal stamped and updated by carving have been designed by François Girardon and Jean-Baptiste Tuby in 1680 and 1681. Since then they have lost their gilding and some of their royal emblems which were destroyed during the Revolution, were not reproduced. Moreover, the pattern alternation has been modified in 1858 when the architect Questel moved the crest of a meter backwards after the refection of the attics.
Within the frame of the "Grand Versailles", it is planned to put this decorative frieze back to its original location, to put its patterns back and to regild its ornaments as they were in their initial state.
Royal crown, with sceptre and hand of justice arranged in saltire laid on a cushion that lies on a beaded base covered with a grand drapery border decorated with a mask of Apollo and edged with a border and three passels (inv. Vdse 27.) © Sygma/Stephane Compoint
Gilding of the leads
The ornamental ridge coverings of the Cour de Marbre and the Cour Royale are formed of fifteen flame finials in the angles, palm leaf turning branches on the dressers and fleur-de-lis, mayflowers, royal crowns, bell towers with a frieze. These ornamentations, modelled in the round and embossment made of lead and tin have been designed by Etienne Le Hongre, Noël Jouvenet and Pierre Mazeline from 1680 to 1684.
Within the frame of "Grand Versailles", as the dormers of the attics and the balconies, these ornamental ridge coverings will recover their gilding.
It is the same for the leads - consoles, festoons and sweet bay trimmings – that adorned the roof assemblies of the secretaries of State’s pavilions in the Avant-cour. Once the rehabilitation of the South Minister’s wing is finished, they will be restored and also fully gilded.
When this assembly site will be finished, the entrance courtyard will then regain the aspect that they had under the reign of Louis XIV.
3D view of the gilding of the leads © Ministère de la culture et de la communication / Fabien Barati and Emmanuel Guerriero
The clock
Above the Chambre du Roi, the Mask of Apollo clock marked the rhythm of the time of the Cour by means of three bells that weigh from 95 to 1150 kilos. They bear the royal number, some crowned L, crosses decorated with fleur-de-lis as well as the inscription "DU REGNE DE LOUIS XIV ROY DE FRANCE ET DE NAVARRE LAN MDC LXXX" and the button of the foundryman Florentin Le Guay decorated with a winged cherub’ head.
During a restoration campaign – that took place from July to December 1999 and benefited from the sponsorship of the Chronopost company -, it has been decided to keep the current arrangement rather than reproducing a previous historical state by transforming the buildings. It is how we see the dial descend on the balcony of the sovereign’s room, before going to the ground of the Cour de Marbre where it has been entirely disassembled before being restored in workshop and treated against corrosion. Its bronze and embossed copper have been regilded and from now on detach itself on a "royal blue" background approved by the archives. These have also justified the gilding of the sweet bay torus stone that had disappeared for a long time. The use of modern techniques has been limited to the laying of prime movers hidden in the weight cages.
As it is restored, the clock will perfectly incorporate to the roof assembly and its lead ornaments that will regain their gilding very soon.
The restored clock of the Cour de Marbre © Castle of Versailles/Christian Milet
The refection of the paving
With the reorganisation of the public reception in the two head pavilions of the Cour Royale and the restitution of the grille intended to enclose it, the "Grand Versailles" project plans to replace all the paving blocks in this zone and to restore its original level, about 40 cm above. The architect of Louis-Philippe had indeed lowered its level so that the Cour de Marbre is on the same level than the inside of the apartments. Although the return to the original level was started in the 80s with the raising of the Cour de Marbre, it was never finished.
The "Grand Versailles" project also includes the creation of a pedestrian access that is about 5 meters wide in the axis of the Avant-cour, from the Grille d’honneur and extending to the Grille Royale which is being reproduced. In front of this grille, the path will take the shape of a U-path which leads to each of the future ticket office two entrances. In order to enable access to the mobility impaired people, this path will be made of new big paving blocks that are submitted to highly demanding flatness and adhesion criteria. The movement of the visitors will be also made easier in the night since it is planned to build lightings in the paving blocks
These two operations conducted in the castle entrance courtyard of will also be the opportunity to create underground purification and draining networks of the rain water which are really missing today.
Works in the view of refecting the paving blocks of the Cour royale © Castle of Versailles/Jean-Marc Manaï
The equestrian statue
At the origin of this equestrian statue, there is an order of Louis XVIII who wanted to replace the Louis XV that adorned the current Place de la Concorde and which had been destroyed during the Revolution; from this project, only the horse was finished under the reign of Charles X, in 1829, by the sculptor Cartelier and the foundryman Keller. Shortly after, Louis-Philippe inaugurated his museum dedicated "to all the glories of France". As a tribute to the creator of Versailles, an equestrian statue of Louis XIV was supposed to receive the visitors. It was achieved by reusing the horse planned for Louis XV and the figure of Louis XIV was then modelled by Petitot and melted by Crozatier. This process certainly explains the disproportion between this massive horseman and its elegant mount, unless this curious scale difference meant to convey the myth of the Grand Roi…
Cast on a 7 year period, these bronzes form a 6 meter high and 2.5 meter wide assembly… more than 8 tons that had to be moved in order to reproduce the Grille Royale. The future grille could not indeed coexist with the statue since it was occupying the centre. On the 20th of February 2006, the mount and its horseman therefore went to the foundry Coubertin specialised in monumental bronzes. Suffering from corrosion and oxidation, they are going to benefit from a well deserved "rejuvenating treatment". In the schedule, there are the refection of the supporting metallic frames whose bad state threatened the stability of the assembly but also the cleaning of the surfaces, the repairs, the reinsertion of the missing parts that had been preventatively laid down in 1977 (the harness of the horse, the plume of the hat and the tip of the sword), the patina and the final treatment by means of protecting wax. At the end of this restoration in 2008, simulations will help the choice of its final location.
3D view of the equestrian statue © Ministère de la culture et de la communication / Fabien Barati and Emmanuel Guerriero
The history and the restitution of the Grille Royale
Under the Ancien Régime, two grilles preceded the castle. The first one, called the Grille d’honneur, has not moved since 1682; the second one, which enclosed the Cour Royale between the two arcade pavilions of the Corps Central and which was destroyed during the Revolution, is going to be restored soon. Erected by Le Vau in the years 1662-1664 and rebuilt from his plans in 1670-1671, this grille was extended to the South and North wings under the supervision of Hardouin-Mansart between 1679 and 1682. In this last state, it was the work of Luchet, Marie, Godignon and Belin who were the best iron workers at the time.
Fully gilded and decorated with rich pilasters, it opened on the side courts through two gates (The Cour des Princes et the Cour de la Chapelle), extended between the columns of the pavilions at the end of the side wings (replaced today with the pavillons Dufour and Gabriel) and then curved in quarter of circle on the Cour d’Honneur to stone inspection boxes which used to be used as screening patrols for the sentinels. Between these two inspection boxes, which supported the sculpted groups of the Abondance by Coysevox and of the Paix by Tuby, the grille was straight again and opened on the Cour Royale through a monumental door covered with a pediment decorated with three fleurs-de-lis and with the royal crown of the France coat of arms.
This door had a great importance in the space organisation of the castle. In fact, only the horsemen, the swivel chairs and the horse-drawn coaches ornamented with the "Honneurs du Louvre", i.e. authorised to enter in the Cour of the Dwelling of the King, could go through it. Despite the consequences induced by the construction of the wing and the pavillon Gabriel in 1771, which led to the suppression of the part closing the Cour de la Chapelle, the Grille Royale remained in place until the end of the Ancien Régime. It became a useless symbol with the Revolution, and it was suppressed in 1793 and the Cour Royale was renamed "Cour des arts et des sciences".
In 1836, in the same location than the central door, Louis-Philippe erected the equestrian statue of Louis XIV. The following year, the sculptures of Coysevox and Tuby, spared by the Revolution because they did not contain any royal attributes, regain a place at the level of the platforms of the ramps of the Avant-cour.
Scheduled within the frame of the master plan, the restitution of the Grille Royale is going to enable to enclose the area of the Cour Royale between the pavillons Dufour and Gabriel. Not only we will thus retrieve a historical state that is able to protect the most sensitive zone of the castle, but also we will facilitate the reorganisation of the public reception in this area that will be a vast opencast vestibule from which the departures towards the various visiting tours will be organised.
The restitution is based on a rich iconographic documentation (paintings, engravings, drawings) as well as on drawings with accurate dimensions and archaeological investigations. They enabled to reconstruct all the current works and the decorating ornaments of the grille, for the iron working as well as the masonry. Once reproduced in workshop and fully gilded, this beautiful enclosure that disappeared during the Revolution will regain its place in the Cour.
The equestrian statue of Louis XIV, which is located at the central door of the grille, has already been disassembled and moved. The restoration of the original level of the Cour Royale and the refection of the paving to be done before its installation are in progress. After its effective positioning, the two sculpted groups of the Paix by Tuby and of the Abondance by Coysevox will have to be moved – they are currently at the level of the platforms of the ramps of the Avant-cour - in amortization of the stone inspection boxes, on each side of the central door of the grille.
Like the Grille d’honneur, the Grille Royale will benefit from a night lighting by means of projectors built-in the pavings and positioned at the level of the roof assemblies of the pavillons Dufour and Gabriel.
3D view of the Grille Royale © Ministère de la culture et de la communication / Fabien Barati and Emmanuel Guerriero
Le module Versailles 3D propose d'accéder à tous ces contenus au travers d'une interface 3D en temps réel
