Versailles (Yvelines). Built on an old terrace, the Hall of Mirrors (see ill.) had the function of a ceremonial room, used for official ceremonies or royal balls. The triple row of chandeliers which adorned it until the summer of 2025 actually dated from 1980, because at the time it was a question of livening up the space for “evoking the appearance of a ballroom”according to Laurent Salomé, director of the National Museum of the Palaces of Versailles and Trianon. The chandeliers and torchieres with girandoles present in all the photographs since the 1980s were modern creations “ aiming to evoke the installation created for the marriage of the Dauphin (future Louis XVI) with Marie-Antoinette in 1770″, specifies the director. However, in the 17th and 18th centuries, the chandeliers put up for festivals and special occasions were then removed by the Menus-Plaisirs, because they were not part of the permanent, more sober decor. The ballroom appearance of the 1980s therefore corresponded more to an imaginary vision than to the reality of the gallery under the monarchy, since the addition of chandeliers and torchieres only occurred on around ten occasions under the Ancien Régime. The presence of numerous lights also prevented visitors from seeing the details of the vault painted by Charles Le Brun: these paintings represent the major events of the reign of Louis XIV in the Grand Siècle spirit, with cartouches written by Racine and Boileau. In the documents provided by the castle, this painted vault is described as “a true Sistine Chapel of French art”a sign of its importance in the restoration project.
However, there are few traces of the initial appearance of the gallery, and Laurent Salomé explains having used “some paintings and engravings”but above all “ written descriptions » : many writers and chroniclers have left accounts of their visit, including Madame de Sévigné. Now the gallery has a single central row of chandeliers and the girandoles on the sides “for more poetic mid-height lighting”according to Laurent Salomé. The latter adds that the lighting was “completely redesigned” to highlight the vault and architecture of the baroque-style gallery, in particular using barely visible spotlights. A few artificial orange trees (made of wax and bronze) in bronze vases remind visitors that the gallery hosted orange trees at the end of the 17th century. The vases of the orange trees evoke the “silver furniture” of Louis The Hall of Mirrors now displays an appearance more faithful to that of the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV, in an approach of authenticity claimed by the castle.
