Heritage Days 2024 at the Grande Ecurie de Versailles (78), free tours!

The Journées du Patrimoine 2024 are an opportunity to discover different arts: on the weekend of September 21 and 22, 2024, theAcadémie équestre de Versailles is inviting Parisians to discover the hidden heritage of the Château de Versailles by entering the Grande Écurie de Versailles, brought back into service by equerry Bartabas, who set up his compagnie-école there in 2003...

Located opposite the Château de Versailles, the Royal Stables were built by Jules Hardouin-Mansart between 1679 and 1682 to house the horses and carriages of the King and Court.

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The Grande Écurie de Versailles is an architectural gem dating from 1683, home to the royal cavalry and a magnificent riding arena and carriage gallery. Inspired by the Farnese Theatre in Parma, the manège is a fine example of 17th-century architecture. Fascinatingly, the building is a nod to the Château's Galerie des Glaces, with its majestic mirrors and Murano glass chandeliers.

The Galerie des Carrosses also showcases some of the finest carriages in thehistory of Versailles, including the sedans used at Napoleon I's wedding, Charles X's coronation carriage, Louis XVIII's funeral carriage, Marie-Antoinette's children's carriages and an astonishing collection of fancy sleighs made during the reign of Louis XV.

After this enchanting tour, head off to discover theOpéra de Versailles, a hidden Versailles landmark designed in 1682 by Jacques-Ange Gabriel to celebrate the wedding of the Dauphin - the future Louis XVI - to Marie-Antoinette.

• To be read
• This week in Paris, from July 21 to 27, 2025: free or cheap outings
• Journées du Patrimoine 2025 in Paris and the Île-de-France region: date, theme and program of this year's event

The 2024 Heritage Days program at the Grande Écurie de Versailles :

• Unguided tour of the royal stables
  Saturday, September 20, 2025 - 09:00 ⤏ 12:00 | Sunday, September 21, 2025 - 09:00 ⤏ 12:00
  

  Working closely with the Château and Monuments Historiques departments, Bartabas entrusted the renovation of the Grande Écurie to Patrick Bouchain, with whom he has a long-standing relationship of complicity and dialogue.

  The manège was conceived as a theatrical set, a small case of rough-hewn wood set in a stone envelope, with a nod to the Galerie des Glaces, the Murano glass chandeliers made by Jean Lautrey and the mirrors in which horses and riders are infinitely reflected. The simplicity of the materials and the assembly of beams and planks recall the ephemeral constructions of Versailles in the past; this light, mobile architecture was inspired by the Farnese Theatre in Parma. Opposite the tiered seating, decorated with baskets, the golden sand track occupies two-thirds of the surface.

  The stables have been designed to take into account the harmony of volumes, the constraints of the Academy's operations and Bartabas' requirements for the well-being of the horses. Stalls have replaced old stalls: they are very simple, elegant and spacious; and topped with twisted vertical lighting, a contemporary reference to unicorns.

  All these changes have returned the buildings to their original vocation, equestrian activity, while preserving the beauty of the historic site built by Jules Hardouin-Mansart at the end of the 17th century to house the prestigious royal cavalry.

  
  
  

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