The Coach Gallery, Royal carriage museum in Grande Écurie, Versailles, France
The Coach Gallery is a carriage museum in the Grande Écurie of Versailles that displays ceremonial coaches and vehicles from various periods of royal history. The collection is housed in two vaulted galleries and presents elaborately decorated vehicles that were used for important court occasions.
Louis-Philippe decided in 1831 to turn Versailles into a museum "à toutes les gloires de la France", and the carriage collection was inaugurated in 1837. In 1851 it opened to the public at the Trianon in a building by Charles-Auguste Questel, enlarged with sedan chairs and sledges. Moved to the Grande Écurie in 1978, it reopened there in 1985 and again on 10 May 2016 after restoration funded by Michelin.
The collection displays vehicles from significant moments in the French royal family's life, including Napoleon's wedding carriage and Louis XVIII's funeral coach. These vehicles tell stories of court ceremonies and special occasions that visitors can see today.
The gallery occupies a wing of the Grande Écurie on the Place d'Armes, facing the palace; the building was erected between 1679 and 1682 by Jules Hardouin-Mansart for the court's riding horses. It is open Tuesday to Sunday in the afternoon, with free admission, and covers 1,000 m² of exhibition space.
The sledges are the museum's oldest pieces, dating from the first half of the 18th century. They were drawn by horses, with the driver seated on a small box behind the sledge, and sleigh races in the park were popular under Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI.
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