Work starts at Versailles to save royal chapel

Urgent restoration is underway on the Royal Chapel at Versailles amid fears that the “precarious state” of its roof could compromise sacred art inside.

The repairs are expected to cost €16million and will continue until 2020, taking in also the chapel’s exterior sculpted decor and stained-glass windows.

The last large-scale works on the building were carried out more than 40 years ago.

This time, restoration will be broken down into two stages: the first focusing on emergency repairs to the roof structure, slates, cladding, statues and upper stained-glass windows, while subsequent work will concentrate on lower parts of the building.

The project will be carried out using traditional techniques, providing a valuable opportunity to train a new generation in ancestral skills such as gilding, stonemasonry and glazing.

The Royal Chapel was originally completed in 1710, at the end of Louis XIV’s reign. The quality of its decor has seen the chapel hailed as one of the finest examples of sacred art. Restoration is being made possible due to financial support from the Fondation Philanthropia and construction company Saint-Gobain, whose own history is closely entwined with the palace. It was Louis XIV who created the company in 1665 to manufacture mirrors and glass for Versailles. A palace spokesperson said visitors can still enter the chapel while work is underway, but only on guided tours.