The Chapelle Royale opens to visitors this summer at the Château de Versailles

The Château de Versailles has added a new feature to its summer itinerary: theChapelle Royale is now opento the public. Until now, the Chapel could only be seen from a distance, behind a cordon, via the Grands Appartements circuit. Since July 8, 2025, visitors have been able to enter the nave, look up at the ceilings painted by Antoine Coypel, Jean Jouvenet and Charles de La Fosse, and contemplate the rare and precious stone marquetry. This chapel, Louis XIV's last major project, is one of the finest examples of French sacred art.

Summer at Versailles is also an opportunity to revisit political history: to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Third Republic, the Château is opening the Salle du Congrès and the apartment of the President of the Congress for guided tours on weekdays and free visits at weekends. These places mark a crucial period when, after the fall of the Second Empire, republican institutions found refuge in Versailles. An opportunity to rediscover the hemicycle built in 1875 and still used today for constitutional revisions.

As part of these commemorations, we're also following in the footsteps of General de Gaulle in theTrianon-sous-Bois wing, open until September 2025. A presidential residence in the 1960s, built at the instigation ofAndré Malraux, it retains all the muted charm of the era, with offices, private apartments and vast kitchens capable of accommodating 300 guests. Visits are free at weekends and guided during the week.

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On the nature front, the estate continues to offer the Grandes Eaux, the Jardin du Parfumeur, the Parterre des Océans and the restored Parterre du Midi. There's also the virtual reality experience of "Les jardins disparus du Roi Soleil", which plunges us into the Versailles of 1682, as imagined by André Le Nôtre. A sensory immersion not to be missed.

With all these new features, the Château de Versailles invites us to rediscover its treasures in a whole new light. All practical information and reservations can be found directly on the château's official website. It's sure to be a summer of royal splendor, republican memory and immersive innovation.