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This exceptional site should be completed in April. The public will again be able to admire this true historical gem that constitutes the Library of the Emperor Napoleon I, at the Château de Compiègne.
If a large scaffolding covers part of the facade of the castle side park, it is especially inside the walls, in this angle inserted in large apartments that the site is spectacular.
“The Emperor’s library has been suffering for several years,” explains Pierre Bortolussi, chief architect of historic monuments. The deformation of the painted ceiling caused many cracks and disturbing detachments of the pictorial layer. The paneling, the parquet and the exterior joinery showed signs of aging. ”
Faced with this evolutionary degradation, two prevention interventions have already taken place in 2006 and 2008. But to respond to these alterations, the Ministry of Culture launched this major project.
A three million euros project
The renovation site of the Emperor’s library amounts to 3 million euros entirely funded by the Ministry of Culture. This historic piece has a height of 5.98m, under an area of an area of 81.43m2. The work was carried out for 18 months.
“We have been waiting for this for twenty years,” comments Rodolphe Rapetti, director of the Museums of the Châteaux de Compiègne and Blérancourt. This place will become more beautiful and more exceptional again. ”
Restore its original appearance and guarantee its conservation
The goal is both to restore the imperial library its original appearance, and above all to guarantee its conservation. This deformation of the ceiling has two causes. On the one hand, the demolition of a partition that separated the library under Louis XVI. On the other hand, the development of apartments on the upper floor to receive the participants in the famous “series” of Napoleon III.
“We had to stabilize the floors and impregnate the plaster of an Epoxy resin,” says the chief architect. Readers have made it possible to map the smallest cracks and paint details. It was advisable to correct “unsightly” covers made in the past. ”
Precise samples have made it possible to know everything about the originals and techniques originally used. A masterpiece of this place, the Girodet canvas, which is the subject of a deposit of the Louvre museum at the Château de Compiègne, has obviously been the subject of meticulous attention.
Give back your dignity to this decor
It is at the Arcoa specialized workshop that the task of offering a new youth to this exceptional painting. “What is needed is to restore its honorability to this set, its dignity to this very rich historically decor,” says Anouk. This is one of the three artists, with Amber and Christelle. Installed at the top of a scaffolding, they handle the brush and the paint with meticulousness and precision.
Ultraviolet and infrared photographs, followed by survey on wetlands preceded their intervention. “It is important to understand how it was all built before constituting the catering file. And then we are here in a privileged environment. ”
In this project started in September 2023, at the project management entrusted to the heritage operator and real estate projects in culture, a new thermal power station and ventilation ducts have removed the condensation and the projection of dust. Light points benefit from revised and corrected electrification. While the upholstery worked on the pediment that received green stretch silk and its matching braid, specially recreated from a historic sample.
4,400 works
Carpenters, cabinetmakers, restaurateurs of painted decorations … The conjugated talents will allow to restore its chandelier to this former work office. The work completed, it will remain to store 4,400 works on the walls and shelves. Dusted, they will benefit from new glass walls for their protection.
A glance at these shelves will get an idea of the works chosen by Napoleon I. Where we find the great classic authors, but also legal treaties, historical stories and even a few books on the city of Compiègne.
It will only remain to reinstall the silk curtains and the furniture signed Jacob-Desmalter as well as the works of art that will regain their place. As in the first empire.
Library built in 1808
In 1808, the Palais architect, Louis-Martin Berthault, designed the decoration of this library. Dubois and dreaded painters are asked. We owe them the decor of the ceilings and the friezes of the cornice. But the eye is mainly attracted by the superb central medallion that we owe to Anne-Louis Girodet. He presents the goddess Minerve enthroned between Apollo and Mercury, a symbolic representation of the wisdom that surrounds the arts and trade.
Time inexorably makes his work of patina and sometimes destruction. So that over the years and changes, the library has suffered. During his stays, Napoleon I appreciates “his” library where he works a lot, faithful to his habit.
In the aftermath of the Revolution, he initiated the restoration of the castle where his marriage with Marie-Louise will take place in 1810 and the birth of the King of Rome in 1811. The decor of this lair filled with works is composed of mahogany furniture and golden wood, typical ornaments of the first empire.
Napoleon III also appreciated this library
Later, the library remains very popular with the occupants of prestige of this high place in history. Napoleon III is one of them. He appreciates this library which he maintains “in his juice”, changing only the office. But his unforeseen abandonment of power after Sedan’s defeat results in the departure of the works located in Compiègne. The occupation of the castle by the Prussians is not done without damage either.
Peace returned, the different pieces of the Compiègne castle come back to life. In 1902, the National Library of France made a filing of books, sometimes disparate. Again, time does its work. An inventory in order to carry out preservation, even renovation, is essential.
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