Devastated by a fire in 2003, the Château de Lunéville, near Nancy, has turned the first page of its restoration work, with the ambition of regaining the splendor it had during the Enlightenment era.
After a good dozen years to repair most of the damage from the fire, in 2017 the "Versailles of Lorraine" recovered areas that belonged to the armies, which should allow it to create an innovative "museum tour" of one wing to the other of the building.
Objective: to revive the Château de Lunéville as it appeared when Lorraine was independent and had as its duke a deposed king, Stanislas Leszczynski, ex-sovereign of Poland who became son-in-law of Louis XV.
Stanislas, a philosopher in his spare time, will make his palace a brilliant court. With its main courtyard and its vast French-style park, "we didn't think we had changed location when we went from Versailles to Lunéville", said Voltaire, a regular.
On the death of Stanislas in 1766, Lorraine became French. But France will hardly take care of the building, transformed into barracks. The furniture from the time of the Dukes of Lorraine was sold and the castle suffered a series of fires, a tradition already well rooted in the ducal era.
The one of January 2, 2003, due to a short circuit, ravaged the entire first floor and the roof of the right wing of the residence, the one which houses the most precious rooms.
Slowly, the reconstruction is taking place, with the completion in 2010 of the chapel, the jewel of the complex from which the fire started. The south wing of the castle is now open to the public and transformed into a museum, with a glass door from which you can see an interior still in ruins.
"Like a phoenix"
“Like a phoenix, our castle rises from its ashes,” enthuses Marie-Danièle Closse, president of the “Lunéville château des Lumières” association.
This association, which brings together donations from individuals, made it possible to mobilize more than 760.000 euros for the restoration of the large northern staircase, inaugurated at the beginning of April after a year and a half of work, or a third of the budget.
Before its restoration, the majestic cut stone staircase “was open to all winds”, recalls Thierry Franz, the museum curator. This is evidenced by ancient graffiti to the glory of Bob Dylan or the Doors, which still adorn the walls which have not yet been repainted. The question arises of knowing "whether we should keep these traces of the culture of an era", asks Mr. Franz very seriously.
This staircase, through which visitors will enter, will be the first step in a “coherent museum journey” through the ducal apartments, as explained by the president (PS) of the Departmental Council of Meurthe-et-Moselle, Chaynesse Khirouni.
Owner of the premises, the department has great ambitions “to restore the Château des Lumières to its former glory,” she told AFP.
Supported by the State and the region, the restoration of the castle has already cost 43 million euros since the fire and an additional 14 million are budgeted by 2028.
Mirror and candelabra
To refurnish the premises, the department undertook with this budget to acquire objects that belonged to the castle, such as a dressing mirror of the Duchess of Lorraine purchased in 2021 in a Parisian gallery following a popular subscription.
But most of the furnishings having been lost, the department called on local craftsmen to redo certain pieces, such as candelabras ordered from the neighboring Baccarat crystal factory.
To revive the 18th century, the project will hardly be able to rely on period engravings: "there are very few", regrets Mr. Franz.
On the other hand, the original plans of the architect Germain Boffrand have been preserved as well as thousands of invoices, real windows on the daily life of the approximately 500 people who lived at the court of Lunéville.
These invoices will allow us to get as close as possible to the appearance of the castle in the heyday, hopes Mr. Franz, who refuses to make “a fake Marie-Antoinette”.
“To reach all audiences in their diversity”, Ms Khirouni is banking on an “ambitious cultural programme”, with sound and lights in summer, Christmas market in winter, concerts… “Not just baroque music, but also world music, jazz, song..."
