On Saturday 4 July, the Palace of Versailles will unveil a brand-new gallery to mark the 250th anniversary of United States independence. Located in the apartment where King Louis XVI received Benjamin Franklin and where France officially recognised American sovereignty in 1778, the gallery will also highlight relations between Paris and Washington.
Versailles was also the place where, in 1783, one of the treaties helping to bring an end to the War of Independence and secure international recognition for the young American republic was signed.
The exhibition brings together paintings, sculptures and portraits from the palace’s collections to shine a light on the political, diplomatic and military figures of Independence, among them Benjamin Franklin, the Marquis de La Fayette and George Washington.
“It makes perfect sense to create a visitor route dedicated to the independence of the United States at Versailles, since from the time of Louis XVI there was already a wish to underline the link between France and those events, not least through the commission of the great candelabrum by Louis XVI, which stood in his private apartment and celebrated the American War of Independence”, explains Clara Terreaux, a curator at the Palace of Versailles.
