Versailles, France — They have been with us since Antiquity and probably before. Figurines have been an integral part of cultures the world over. These small figures of a person, animal or character in wood, clay, plastic or metal and so forth fascinate collectors and the public at large, and like us they are in 3D.  There are the Venus figurines of prehistoric Europe depicting women and closer to us, figurines from the worlds of Star Wars, Tolkien, Marvel and the Smurfs. And these fabulous figurines are the object of an exhibition being played out in the old post office in Versailles which has been transformed into a cultural venue. The show, entitled The Universe of Figurines, brings together 25,000 figurines representing myths, historical figures and characters ranging from medieval knights, Napoleon, dragons, soldiers and more. One of the highlights of the show is a medieval castle surrounded by a village of the Middle Ages replete with knights on horseback, ladies, a market, animals of the court and the courtyards, drawbridges and keeps and secret passageways all brilliantly created by Jean-Claude Buchs. 

Another  high point of the exhibition is an incredible reconstitution of the Battle of Waterloo, replete with farms, fields and figurines, 22,000 figurines, spread out over 100 square meters. The Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon’s final defeat on June 18th, 1815, ended 23 years of recurrent warfare between France and the other powers of Europe.  Jean-Pierre Leclercq’s painstaking 3D scale model of Waterloo has been welcomed to museums and venues in France and Belgium and when it arrived in Versailles, he spent three days putting it all together.  He even re-constructed the farms that were peppered around the battlefield in clay. This is Jean-Pierre Leclercq’s Waterloo, but he, unlike Napoleon, won the battle — of the largest scale model of Waterloo in existence. He makes his own figurines in a special alloy of tin and lead, he even gave out some samples to visitors at the opening. 

The former post office is a short walk from the Chateau and there is a nice food court on the premises as well. Ancienne Poste, 3 avenue de Paris, Versailles. Guided tours and workshops round out the program. Wed-Fri noon until 7pm and Sat-Sun: 10am-7pm. The figurines exhibition in on until March 15th. ©Trish Valicenti for The Gourmet Gazette