Until January 15, 2019, the salle des fêtes of the Elysée palace, the winter garden, the salon Napoleon III – more than 1000 square metres within the palace – will be closed for restoration. Farewell true false sets the Second Empire, carmine and golden. In two months, the carpet, the curtains and hangings, as well as the seating, have been replaced. Novelty decorative will be of size: the curtains and carpet version 2019 will draw in hues of grey and beige and far more contemporary, and, especially, brighter.
The site, which promises to be exceptional, will start Thursday at eight o’clock. It will mobilize a total of 120 people, the intendant of the palace in the Mobilier national, which ensures the control of work, through a myriad of companies in the heritage. All under the gaze of Brigitte Macron, who gave the starting signal for this revolution decorative. «This project will give a contemporary vision of Elysium, and will honor a French savoir-faire unique,» says Hervé Lemoine, director of the Mobilier national.
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If the palace dates from the Eighteenth century, the festival hall is an addition Nineteenth. Built at the time of the universal Exhibition of 1889, with ceilings fire department all to the glory of the arts and the Republic, it was not meant to last. At the time of its inauguration by the president Sadi Carnot, the ground is in parquet. It will not be covered with a carpet, already grey, as in the 1930s. The photos then show already large tapestry of the Soap factory hung on the wall, as well as suites of chairs. The decorations of red and gold, a sort of pastiche of Empire, will make their entrance in the 1980s, when François Mitterrand did break through several doors-windows overlooking the garden. As for the carpet current red design laurels yellow, due to Pierre Frey, it dates from 2007.
Emmanuel Macron during the presentation of the work of the Elysium, in September. Arthur Berdah/Le FIgaro
Eleven later, Emmanuel Macron, has found helpful a replacement. The palace receives 250 000 people per year ; the festival hall is the place where are organized the big State dinners and receptions of prestige (approximately 250 per year). This is also where the president of the Republic is enthroned. The carpet is so worn by the thousands of not. As for the large tapestries Eighteenth, it’s been over 20 years that the Mobilier national was claiming that they won and they are put in the shelter: all tapestry old eventually deform under its own weight and tends to lose its color under the effect of the light.
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For the past seven months, several companies as well as the workshops of Mobilier national are on a war footing for restoration of the salons. The gradients in the grey and beige of the carpet have been developed by the national workshops, which feature a swatch of the 14,000 shades, dating from the Seventeenth century. The carpet has been woven in a company of the North, and the velvet curtains (5 meters height) were made at the Mobilier national. It took several trips back and forth to arrive at something satisfactory. «We can’t settle for an «almost» at the Elysée palace, which is a showcase of France», the judge Isabelle Stanislas, the architect who designed the project.
But before handing over of the nine, it will be necessary to remove the old one. Starting Thursday, the current curtains, and wall hangings (glazing), will be deposited, and then folded to be stored in the reservations. The tapestries leave spaces off-white on which will be hung, to term, new works of art. The carpeted floor, composed of strips glued on wooden pallets (themselves laid on the sand) will then be removed. Re-paint or gilding are then provided. In the last line right, new carpet, sets of braces and fins beige, will be asked, and new curtains hung.
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Until mid-January, all the parts will be inaccessible, and the Presidency will have to find other places home for the holidays year-end. Then will come the time of the surprise, or even critical. In addition to those who do not like the change, whatever it may be, of the votes will always be against this new public expenditure. In recent days, the «yellow vests» are not private to denounce the order of a service of Sèvres, the construction of a swimming pool at Brégançon or the scenery changes to the palace. During the presentation of the project in September, the services of the Elysée palace have ensured that the work of the hall, estimated at 500,000 euros, will be largely financed by the sale of derivative products.
