After nearly three months of closure due to the coronavirus, the time for reopening to the public has finally come for the Palace of Versailles, which will once again be accessible to visitors from Saturday 6 June. "There will be 400 visitors per hour, that's seven times less than usual," said Catherine Pégard, president of the public establishment of the castle, museum and national domain of Versailles, on Friday morning 'Europe 1. "We are going to make extended private visits and the French will discover a Versailles they do not know," she promises. Access to the castle will only be by reservation with a time slot.
>> Watch Matthieu Belliard's morning show in replay and in podcast here
The opening of the borders eagerly awaited
Catherine Pégard also confided that the economic model of the Palace of Versailles had been destroyed by the health crisis. "At time T, we lost most of our resources. We had 8 million visitors a year, 80% of whom were foreigners and ticketing represents 75% of our own resources".
The president of the public establishment of the Palace of Versailles impatiently awaits the reopening of the borders, because without the Asian and American tourists, the economic model of Versailles does not hold up. "You have to think of another model, but it's difficult, and it takes time," she adds.
A unique closure
Without visitors, the Palace of Versailles, which had not experienced such a cut since the Second World War, however did not remain silent and the teams continued to work. "Our gardeners maintained the gardens, the watchmaker came every week to set the record straight so that the castle would not be plunged into horrible silence, one of our curators played the organ in the royal chapel every day so that it does not go out of tune and we dusted off the gallery of mirrors, which had not been done since the restoration of 2007. We took advantage of this grim period ", finally details Catherine Pégard.