Palace of Versailles Research Centre


The Palace of Versailles Research Centre is the first research centre established in a French palace. It originated as part of a French government project called "Digital Great Versailles" to improve public access to the Palace of Versailles. It is located in the Jussieu pavilion, near the Grand Trianon and the Petit Trianon, on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles, which is in the Île-de-France region of France.
The Centre serves as a resource to scholars and curators researching European court culture of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. For example, such research would seek to explore the sites and expressions of power, such as those represented at Versailles and in other European courts of the same era, and join together researchers interested in this era. In addition to facilitating research, it also organises symposia and training activities such as seminars and summer schools. The websites of the Research Centre and of Grand Versailles Numérique are among those recommended by France's Ministry of Culture and Communication as "sites préférés."

Jussieu Pavilion

The building now used by the Research Centre was once occupied by Bernard de Jussieu, a member of the family of famous botanists and historians of the natural world, after whom the Paris metro station Jussieu was named. Many of the Jussieu family were associated with France's main botanical garden, the Jardin des Plantes in Paris.

Members

Initially under the direction of the Public Establishment of Versailles, the Research Centre became a Public Interest Group on 27 October 2006, with nine founding members:
This very flexible arrangement allows for the sharing of human, intellectual, material, financial, public and private resources that are necessary for the development of scientific research.

Areas of research

The Centre considers Court civilisation in all its aspects:
The study of these themes is allowed a flexible time frame because they often require tracing origins that strictly speaking, predate the modern period, as well as exploring more recent times. While focusing on Europe and its royal and princely courts, the geographical scope encourages comparative studies, expanding when necessary to other parts of the world. Faced with the dispersion of works and the paucity of comparative studies, the Palace of Versailles Research Centre is both a meeting place and an incentive for further research.

Mission of the Centre

The Versailles Research Centre aspires to be multidisciplinary and international. It gives unity to the various works that it leads or initiates, supports new research and assures its dissemination. The missions of the centre are:
The Research Centre publishes the Bulletin du Centre de recherche du château de Versailles.