A research team is launching an innovative program aimed at analyzing the impact of climate change on the structures and decorations of the royal building, as well as other historic buildings.
Although it celebrates its 400th anniversary this year, the Palace of Versailles retains a timeless splendour. Its works of art, its furniture nevertheless face thousands of visitors daily, who crowd, breathe, cough, sputter, and sometimes do worse… To this permanent threat, against which the conservation teams know how to act, is now added that of climate change. Rising temperatures, changing humidity levels, dry soils are all invisible enemies for this jewel of French heritage.
In 2015, a research team launched the Epico project (European Protocol In Preventive Conservation), which aims to establish a systemic scientific method of preventive conservation for historic houses. ” We are launching a new phase of the project, the aim is to assess the consequences of climate change on the collections, explains Danilo Forleo, in charge of preventive conservation at the Palace of Versailles on the initiative of…