Marly-le-Roi (France) (AFP)
Victim of a flood in 2016, the museum of the Royal Domain of Marly, a pleasure residence near Versailles where Louis XIV invited his intimate friends, reopens on Saturday after three years of work.
"You had to claim to come to Marly," says Géraldine Chopin, the manager of the premises. "Sire, Marly," was whispered in the king's ear for the honor of being his guest.
In addition to his family, the Sun King invited only the nobility during the "Marlys", these stays of a few days which he made very frequently in this hunting residence. Not to be one was perceived by the courtiers as a disgrace.
This exploded architecture residence was made up of a square royal pavilion inspired by Palladian villas and 12 smaller pavilions reserved for guests and built around huge pools with gushing waters. The set was quickly erected from 1679 under the orders of Mansart, even though the Palace of Versailles was undergoing a major overhaul.
In Marly, "no debauchery of ornaments" in the royal apartments, "we are not in Versailles, not here to impress the gallery", summarizes Ms. Chopin.
Nothing remains of the residence today except the marks of its location, below the museum, as well as the immense park with secular trees all around, and several pools. The thirteen pavilions were completely dismantled after the Revolution.
The museum, opened in 1982 and refurbished for a total cost of 1.6 million euros, nevertheless allows life to be represented during these "Marlys" with a festive atmosphere and less strict etiquette than at court : we danced there, listened to music, hunted, played fortunes with cards, traces Mme Chopin.
We also canoeed there on the basins covered with earthenware, we brightened up in the alleys of the French garden populated by statues. Escarpolettes (swings where four people could take place) and pickups (ancestor of the roller coaster) completed the festivities.
Technological curiosity for the time, the workings of the "machine of Marly", which made it possible to convey the water of the Seine to supply waterfalls and basins via an aqueduct (still visible in Louveciennes), are explained there in a very didactic way , through models, drawings and paintings.
To make the experience of the "Marlys" even more interactive, the museum also offers to relive alongside the Sun King the partial eclipse observed in person by the monarch on May 3, 1715 while he is in Marly, thanks to a virtual reality headset.
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