Versailles (AFP)

After an annus horribilis, it was to be the moment of the "resurrection".

But for lack of the green light from the executive, the Palace of Versailles will finally spend the end of year celebrations confined, until a possible reopening in January which promises to be full of challenges and even delicate.

The extension, last week, of the closure of cultural venues for at least three additional weeks dampened hopes of a rapid return to normalcy in the corridors of the royal residence, which the coronavirus pandemic will have deprived of the public for. five months this year.

Everything had been meticulously prepared for a reopening on December 15 with, as a highlight, a retrospective dedicated to the painter Hyacinthe Rigaud who brought together for the first time the two copies of his portrait of Louis XIV, one of the no longer reproduced in history textbooks.

"This exhibition has a symbol of resilience, of resurrection", confided last week Laurent Salomé, the director of the National Museum of the castles of Versailles and Trianon, who wanted to believe until the end in a reopening before Christmas.

"The Palace of Versailles is a place that only has meaning when it is filled with people crossing its paths and galleries, when the gardens are visited by visitors," insisted the curator.

An emblematic tourist place of France, the Palace of Versailles has emerged groggy from the confinement of spring.

- "White year" -

Overnight, his golden gates closed and, with them, a large chunk of his income.

The reopening in June after 82 days of confinement did not translate into the expected rebound due to the lack of foreign tourists, who represented 80% of its visitors.

The total number of visitors has plunged - "about 2 million" this year against 8.2 million in 2019 - the castle shows a loss of 50 million euros and will end the year, unsurprisingly, in deficit.

2020 was "a terrible year", "an almost white year", confirms Catherine Pégard, the president of the public establishment, whose voice resonates in a deserted hall of mirrors.

"There is a life that has come to a standstill and that for the sole safeguard of the Palace of Versailles today we are in great difficulty".

"The castle is not in a bad situation as it could be after the war, where the roofs were leaking, where the gardens were completely fallow", she continues.

But "if we want to safeguard this cultural offer, if we want the Palace of Versailles to continue to shine in the world, obviously we must not stop all the work, all the sites".

Beyond the government's recovery plan - 87 million euros over two years - "which will enable us to overcome the difficulties of 2020", the support of patrons is essential in this context, insists Catherine Pégard, everything such as the need to renew visitation offers in order to attract a larger audience.

- The Elysée without royal orange trees -

"We must rebuild the economic model" because "we know that the return of tourism will be very slow", abounds Laurent Salomé.

Lines of reflection are underway on "original and exceptional ways of visiting Versailles which, for a certain clientele, may have meaning and help us to hold on a little".

On the ground, and despite the blow caused by the government announcement, the construction sites and operations are continuing pending the reopening, like the royal chapel which, after nearly three years of construction, will be able to present to the public a gilded and restored roof.

The angels have "finally good looks", enthuses at the top of the scaffolding Frédéric Didier, chief architect of historical monuments and prime contractor for this operation.

"It's extraordinary because the gold shines: rain, snow, wind, we have the impression that they generate their own light."

A few hundred meters away, under the vaults of the Orangery, another "large-scale operation" is underway: the "cashing" of the thousand orange trees, lemon trees, grapefruit trees, palm trees and pomegranate trees.

Sheltered during the winter, these "subjects", some over 200 years old, will find their original place outside in the spring after their "annual confinement", jokes Eric Quenea, gardener and manager of the place.

Coronavirus or not, he adds, this operation is repeated every year without exception, 2020 included.

The only small sprain this year: the traditional loan of 40 olive trees to the Elysee Palace was prevented by confinement, a first since 1974 and the presidency of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.

© 2020 AFP