After a one-year closure, the Petit Trianon is again open to visitors

A message from Jean-Jacques Aillagon, President of the State Corporation of the Versailles Museum and National estate.

After a one-year closure, the Petit Trianon is once again open to visitors. It has been returned to its former glory thanks to a meticulous restoration programme. The latter owes its success to the combined competence of Pierre-André Labaude, chief architect of the Historical Monuments directorate at the Ministry of Culture, Pierre Arizzoli-Clémentel, curator of the national museum of the Versailles and Trianon palaces and Xavier Salmon, recent commissioner of an exemplary exhibition on Marie-Antoinette.

Swatch Group – Breguet and the Petit Trianon

Although the Petit Trianon was built under king Louis XV, it was his successor, Louis XVI, who presented it to his spouse, Marie-Antoinette, thereby determining in this way the building’s character and personality; it would henceforth express to perfection the queen’s own taste, as testified by her monogram on its grand wrought-iron staircase. So, today, between the Marie-Antoinette exhibition at the Grand Palais and the reopening of the Petit Trianon, the enjoyment and study of 18th century decorative arts benefit from vast opportunities – as befits a period of French excellence that continues to impress and dazzle the world.

Much like Versailles’s «Petits appartements», the Petit Trianon itself, the Queen’s hamlet, the entire Marie-Antoinette domain so beloved of visitors reflect this brief moment in the history of the French monarchy when the royal family seemed to yearn for a more normal, «simpler» life. Under Louis XIV, the monarchy had never shirked from its daily obligation to make itself available to the people. The king belonged less to himself than to his subjects.

Louis XIV’s successors aspired to some degree of privacy, of peace and quiet and a lifestyle closer to that of a great aristocrat instead of that of the Sun King, with the suffocating etiquette derived from the Spanish court to which be was bound by so many family ties, that had become the rule, even when the French monarch managed to escape to the Grand Trianon or to Marly. In a way, too, and perhaps paradoxically, the court’s desire to to do away with the rigid French «Grand Siècle» court etiquette would weaken and perhaps even fatally wound the monarchy in Paris because the revolution in behaviour and mores had not, as in England, been reflected in a revolution of the country’s political institutions.

This quandary would be resolved by the French Revolution. Left empty on October 5 1789 when masses of Parisians threatened Versailles by insisting that the royal family return to Paris, the Petit Trianon provides a celebrated exemplar of the history of taste and of the arts in the 18th century as well as a page of the country’s social and political history, the distinguished purview of the French historical school over the last decades.

There is no denying that the restoration of the Petit Trianon constitutes an exceptional event in its history. This splendid moment was made possible by the generosity of an apposite sponsor, Montres Breguet, and the passionate interest of its chief executive, Nicolas G. Hayek. He agreed to provide over five million euros for a project as significant as this one. Along with restoring Marie-Antoinette’s Trianon to its former glory, it also paid for the installation of the technical infrastructures needed for its smooth operation and security. Versailles thus benefits from a fresh instance of generous sponsorship. It stems from an agreement signed on June 13 2006 between Nicolas G. Hayek, CEO of Montres Breguet, and Breguet board member Arlette-Elsa Emch, with my predecessor in my present post, Christine Albanel. Its promise is fulfilled today by the full and complete reopening of this delightful construction on the fifth anniversary of the law dated August 1 2003 on corporate patronage and foundations which I had led to a vote in parliament as the minister of Culture and Communication of the period. The law has generated definite beneficial effects from which Versailles has often profited, an outcome I find particularly satisfying and a good omen in view of the interest other possible corporate patrons display for other restoration programmes in favour of Marie-Antoinette’s domain, «the Pavillon frais», for instance, about which the American Friends of Versailles have shown definite interest, or the «Belvédère» and the «Maison rustique» in the hamlet.

I invite anyone still undecided to emulate the enthusiasm and generosity of Nicolas G. Hayek. In keeping with Breguet’s centuries of history, open to innovation and to the spirit of the our age, he seized an opportunity to enhance a heritage that truly belongs to humanity itself, acting with demanding efficiency and enduring passion. May these lines testify to my gratitude.

Jean-Jacques Aillagon

Former Cabinet Minister
President of the State Corporation of the Versailles Museum and National estate

Some documents about the Petit Trianon:

History of the Petit Trianon (PDF Document) (1526 KB)
The Restauration of the Petit Trianon – Private Financing (PDF Document) (892 KB)
New Developments for Visitors (PDF Document) (3185 KB)
Practical Information (PDF Document) (492 KB)

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After a one-year closure, the Petit Trianon is again open to visitors