Versailles, France — It is one of the more spectacular settings for an Olympic Event. The equestrian jumping events are currently underway on the grounds of the Versailles Palace with the stunning Grand Canal shimmering in the background. It was a place where kings and queens rode their horses. They hunted upon them, promenaded on them, waged war on them. When the French court was definitively installed at the Palace of Versailles in 1682, Louis XIV had the Great and the Small Stables built to accommodate more than 600 horses. And horses have been a major feature at Versailles ever since. So it is only natural that the equestrian events (as well as the modern pentathlon) of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games are taking place in the Park of the Palace of Versailles. But there is more. The Château is holding a major exhibition on horses and equestrian civilisation in Europe coinciding with the equestrian events taking place on the grounds and running until November 3rd.

Entitled Horse in Majesty -At the Heart of A Civilisation, it brings together nearly 300 works on exceptional loan from all over the world. The show underscores the roles played by horses in civil and military society from the 16th to the 20th century up to the eve of World War I when horses were largely relegated to the realm of leisure. The exhibition offers an opportunity to discover the fine Arabian horses of Queen Victoria, the collection of horse portraits put together by King Charles XI of Sweden and offers a close-up view of how the horse was portrayed in precious objects, art and sculpture. The visitor sees to what extent equestrian festivals played a key role in the life of European courts and actually still do so today, a case in point being the coronation of King Charles II and the country’s annual Trooping the Colour parade, a military event that celebrates the monarch’s official birthday that has been held since 1748.

« From Bucephalus, the charger of Alexander the Great, to Napoleon’s famous Marengo, immortalised by David, and including Incitatus adored by the Emperor Caligula, who it is said, dreamed of having him made a Consul, history has accounts of a certain number of horses that became almost as famous as their cavaliers. To each God his mount, teaches the Hindu religion, to each king his horse. The horse is endowed with a dual majesty: by its presence and as a privileged attribute of a king. ‘A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse,’ Shakespeare’s Richard III invokes this identity between a sovereign and the horse, which history has confirmed so many times, » commented Christophe Leribault, the President of the château, museum and national domain of Versailles.

The exhibition takes the visitor through several of the emblematic areas of the Palace, notably the Africa Rooms, the King’s State Apartment, the Hall of Mirrors, Madame Maintenon’s Apartment and the Dauphine’s Apartment on the ground floor. The show also presents luxurious, finely crafted ornaments for horses with some emanating from the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of New York. France’s Renaissance museum has loaned the precious golden stirrups of King Francis I dating from the first third of the 17th century to the show. In the Salon d’Hercule, one discovers full equestrian armour used in battle and in jousts. The visit of the exhibition can be prolonged with a tour of the Royal Stables and a remarkable collection of carriages. Guided tours, workshops, conferences, and a game book for children (available in English and French ) are all on the agenda.©Trish Valicenti for The Gourmet Gazette
https://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover

See also: https://thegourmetgazette.com/2024/11/11/a-horse-named-zeus/