The restoration of the Hôtel de la Marine is completed

"We wanted the visitor to enter a real XNUMXth century house" and, for that, "we refuse the facelift, we accept wrinkles, white hair", explains decorator Joseph Achkar to AFP.

With his sidekick Michel Charrière, he defended a bias: rediscover the patina of yesteryear. Unlike what was done in Versailles in particular.

The site entrusted in 2017 by the Center des monuments nationaux (CMN) to the architect of Historic Monuments Christophe Bottineau, is completed with the delivery, and the opening in June, of a new exhibition and ballad venue, combining reconstruction of the past and contemporary gestures in a place known all over the world.

The project was designed to be open to the city: the two interior courtyards, with a restaurant, café, bookstore, will be accessible from the rue Royale or the square.

A luminous carpet of LED beams inserted into the paving will welcome the walker at night. By day, a very beautiful pyramidal glass roof designed by the architect Hugh Dutton will refract the light thanks to a skilful set of mirrors in one of the courtyards.

"Poetic approach"

The Hôtel de la Marine created by Ange-Jacques Gabriel, Louis XV's first architect, housed the Crown's furniture repository, then for nearly 200 years became the headquarters of the Navy staff, which knew how to preserve it.

Tours will be offered in the XNUMXth century apartments of the Intendant of the storage room and the XNUMXth century ceremonial lounges. With explanations provided by connected headset, nicknamed "the confidant".

In the lounges, both formal and classic, are arranged mirror terminals presenting episodes from the history of Paris, and digital tables recounting the epics of the great explorers of the seas.

But the visit acquires a more intimate and lively dimension in the XNUMXth century apartments. This responds to the "poetic approach" desired by the decorators.

In the dining room, the oval table is reconstructed as it should have been at the end of a social feast: a glass is spilled, the crumpled napkins lie near the plates, empty oysters are piled up, a waistcoat is placed on a chair. In one corner, a game table with cards.

To achieve such a result, period inventories helped: tarnished paintings were found, sometimes under many layers of paint. And the new wallpapers have been weathered. In one spot, false damp spots have been added. The parsimonious lighting of the time has been restored.

Al Thani Collection

Coming from different museums, the furniture has found its place and is not restored brand new. The curtains were ordered from the factories that produced the originals in the XNUMXth century.

In the fall, the project will be completed and enriched, with the opening of the galleries reserved for the Al Thani Collection, one of the most prestigious private art collections in the world. In 2018, the CMN and the Qatari Al Thani Foundation signed an agreement providing space for the Qatari family's collections for twenty years, in exchange for a consideration of 20 million euros.

"This whole project is a great heritage adventure, a challenge to be taken up in a composite place", recognizes Philippe Bélaval, head of the CMN, stressing that the project (135 million euros) is largely self-financed, the State providing only six million. Sponsorship contributed 20 million euros.

A loan taken out by the CMN, he underlines, will be reimbursed by the rental of 6.000 m² of offices.