Over the centuries

2006 - XXIst century

2006 : The restoration of the Gilt Room of Marie-Antoinette

Marie-Antoinette had at Versailles a series of small private rooms behind her “State Apartment”. The Gilt Room was the largest and it was here that the queen retired with her children and her ladies-in-waiting. This sumptuous room was fitted out according to the plans drawn up by the queen’s personal architect Richard Mique, while the Rousseau brothers began in late 1783 to carve the new wood panelling which illustrates perfectly her taste for the “return to antiquity” in this large inner room. This antique-style decor also served as a setting for the personal collections of Marie-Antoinette: precious furniture varnished with Japanese lacquer, a collection of objects mounted on hardstone and lacquered boxes left to her by the Empress Maria Theresa. The complete restoration of the room was carried out and completed in 2006, after the repainting and re-gilding of the wood panelling, the parquet, the door and window frames, etc.

The furniture and the seating today in place in this room all come from the collections of Marie-Antoinette. In this exceptional Gilt Room there reigns a special atmosphere, as if time had stood still.

Present-day view of the Cabinet Doré in the interior apartment of the Queen, 2011, Versailles, châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon © EPV/ Christian Milet

Cabinet Doré of Marie-Antoinette