FRANCE JOINS IN

Abstract

ON 17 JUNE 2005 the Centre de Recherche du Chateau de Versailles was opened in the PavilIon de Jussieu, beside the Grand Trianon in the park of the Chateau de Versailles. Its purpose is to encourage, produce and publicise new research on court civilisation in all periods and countries, with a particular emphasis on the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It is open to partners and institutions from all countries. ' Fourteen people work in the centre under Beatrix Saule, conservateur en chef at the Chateau of Versailles, author of Versailles triomphant (2000) and editor of a collection of books published by Editions Perrin called Les metiers de Versailles. First projects include conferences on 'Gaspare e Carlo Vigarani: de la cour d'Este a celIe de Louis XIV' in Versailles and Reggio Emilia and Modena in June 2005, and on 'Objets et insignes de pouvoir' in the Galerie basse of the Chateau de Versailles on 1-3 December 2005. Further research programmes have been started on 'Les gran des galeries des palais d'Europe aux XVIIe et XVIIle siecles: typologie, histoire, decor et usages'; the court of Versailles and southern France (1682-1789); and 'Etude pour une re-creation des grands spectacles donnes a Versailles sous Louis XIV'. Exhibitions and conferences are also planned on Saxony and Versailles; hygiene and health at court; botany and the royal gardens; court costume; and Jules Hardouin-Mansart, Louis XIV's architect. Members of the Comite scientifique include, among many others, Pierre Arrizoli-Clementel, Lucien Bely, Robert Darnton, Chantal Grell, Mark Hengerer, Jerome de La Gorce, Philip Mansel, Monique Mosser. The President is Daniel Roche, Professor at the College de France and author of studies of the ancien regime and the Ecuries royales. For further information, contact Mathieu da Vinha, who is in charge of research and teaching. Address: Centre de Recherche du Chateau de Versailles, PavilIon de Jussieu, Domaine de Trianon, 78000 Versailles; e-mail: centrederecherche@chateauversailles.fr; tel: +33 13083 7349. A further function of the Centre de Recherche is to run the Reseau des residences royales (www.europeanroyalresidences.com). Founded in 1996 on the initiative of the Chateau de Versailles, its purpose is to promote access to and knowledge of palaces, among professional staff as well as the general public, and to show the links between the different monarchies and residences considered as 'a common European heritage'. Members include Historic Royal Palaces; Schonbrunn, Het Loo and the Royal Palace Stockholm; the palaces of BerlinBrandenburg, Piedmont and Naples; and Patrimonio Nacional in Spain. Thus France finally has a centre for court studies, after the Centro Studi Europa delle Corti in northern Italy (1976), the Residenzen Kommision in Germany (1985), the Society for Court Studies in Britain (1995), the North American Society for Court Studies (1998) and the 'Courts of the House of Austria' study group in Austria (1999). Remaining gaps are the Iberian peninsula, central and southern Italy, the Low Countries, Scandinavia and Russia. With these