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VERSAILLES

Limited Palace of Versailles perfume goes on sale for €550

The palace of Versailles is launching a limited edition perfume, with the profits going towards the renovation of the luxurious palace. It goes on sale on Wednesday.

Published: 17 February 2016 09:42 CET
Limited Palace of Versailles perfume goes on sale for €550
The perfume is inspired by the palace's gardens. Photo: Jason/Flickr

Named Le Bouquet de la Reine (The bouquet of the Queen), the perfume contains notes of jasmine – one of Marie Antoinette’s favourite flowers – as well as bergamot and lily of the valley.

The perfume has been created by Thierry Wasser from fashion house Guerlain and is “inspired by the palace's gardens”.


But if you want to snag a bottle, you’ll have to be quick. It went on sale on Wednesday and will be available for one month only. It can only be bought online, at Versailles Castle itself or at Guerlain’s store on the Champs-Élysées, and comes with a hefty pricetag – €550 for a 125ml bottle.

Over seven million people visit the Palace of Versailles – which was the principal residence of French kings from the time of Louis XIV to the French revolution – each year, making it France’s third most popular tourist site. In 2003, a huge restoration project was launched, which is scheduled to continue until 2020.
 


 

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RESTORATION

Spain’s botched restoration of ancient St George statue gets a proper makeover

A 16th century sculpture of Saint George in Spain whose amateur restoration left it looking like a cartoon character has been brought back to its original state, regional authorities said Monday.

Published: 25 June 2019 08:43 CEST
Spain's botched restoration of ancient St George statue gets a proper makeover
Photos: AFP

The botched restoration sparked anger when it came to light last year, drawing comparisons with a similar infamous renovation in 2012 by an elderly parishioner of a fresco of Jesus Christ which resembled a pale-faced ape with cartoon-style eyes.

The wooden statue of St George charging a horse in the San Miguel church in Estella, a town in Spain's northern Navarra region, had turned a dark brown with age.

But its restoration by a local crafts business left the soldier with a pink face and a surprised look.

Some Twitter users likened the restored statue to Tintin or Woody from “Toy Story”.

Authorities fined the church and the crafts business 6,010 euros ($6,840) each.

Now, after three months of work in an official laboratory in the nearby city of Pamplona for a cost of 30,000 euros paid by the parish, St. George is back to normal, the government of Navarra announced.

Or almost. There is irreversible damage, with some of the sculpture's colours lost forever, Fernando Carrera, spokesman for Spain's art conservation-restoration association, told AFP.

He said this was just “the tip of the iceberg of so many cases that don't appear in the press.”

“It's constant,” he added.

The renovation of the “Ecce Homo” fresco of Jesus Christ in Borja became so famous it turned the small, northeastern town into an attraction for Spanish and foreign tourists.

It has also inspired a comic opera.The fresco's elderly restorer, Cecilia Gimenez, has even had her own art exhibited and signed a licensing agreement for the commercial use of the image of her “Ecce Homo” restoration on mugs, t-shirts and other souvenirs.

Last year it also emerged that a parishioner had painted three 15th century sculptures in garish colours.

Baby Jesus was given a bright green robe and the Virgin Mary a bright pink headscarf, sky blue robe and eyeliner at the chapel in El Ranadoiro, a northern hamlet.

“There is a problem in management of Spain's historical heritage,” said Carrera, pointing to the law that doesn't clearly state “who must intervene” when a work of art needs to be restored, on top of general rule-breaking. 

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