Digitisation programmes
Digitisations 2012-2019
Project for the digitisation of plans relating to Versailles, conserved in the Archives nationales, in the Bibliothèque nationale de France and in the Palace of Versailles archives department.
A VERSPERA research project, directed by the Centre de recherche du château de Versailles, as part of the LabEx PATRIMA project.
A scientific collaboration between the Centre de recherche du château de Versailles, the Archives nationales and the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
The digitisation is mainly concerned with the plans of Versailles kept in the Archives nationales in several subsets, and mainly in subset O1 (Department of the Secretary of State for the King’s Household during the Ancien Régime), but also in series VA XXVII, VA XXIX, VA LXIII, F21 3585, F13 710 and in series N.
It comprises works principally drawn up in the offices of the kings’ principle architects, from Louis Le Vau to Richard Mique, and including Jules Hardouin-Mansart, Robert de Cotte and Ange-Jacques Gabriel, all names associated with the excellence of French architecture in the 17th and 18th centuries. Produced by the administrative department of the Bâtiments du roi, this vast body of work forms a homogenous collection relating to the town, the Palace and its subsidiary structures, and consists of 6,812 catalogue entries set up by Danièle Gallet-Guerne in collaboration with Christian Baulez (Versailles. Dessins d’architecture de la direction générale des Bâtiments du roi, Paris, National Archives, 1983 and 1989, 2 vol.) Architectural plans, sections and elevations will be digitised in this inventory, as well as architectural and decorative details relating to the central section of the palace, the main wings (North and South), the wings overlooking the Royal Courtyard (Old Wing and Gabriel Wing) and the North and South Ministers’ Wings of the Palace of Versailles.
As well as the obvious need to preserve and conserve the plans in the National Archives, this project will also make them available to researchers and the general public via the virtual inventory room (SIV) of the French National Archives and, from 2017, via the image database of the Centre de recherche du château de Versailles.
Furthermore, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, which itself is in the process of digitising all the collections listed by François Fossier (Les dessins du fonds Robert de Cotte de la Bibliothèque nationale de France: architecture et décor, Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, 1996), has decided to take part in the VERSPERA project by making this digitisation available to the Centre de recherche du château de Versailles. It will therefore digitise all the plans and drawings of Versailles in its collection.
In fact, in 2015, the Palace of Versailles decided to take part in this project by digitising its collection of plans from the 17th and 18th centuries, kept in the Palace of Versailles. This collection comes from the archives of the architecture agency, which was charged in 1805 with the restoration and upkeep of the estate. The documents, almost two hundred of them, were mostly drawn up in the offices of the king’s principle architects, thus complementing the rich collection conserved in the National Archives. Acquisitions made during the first half of the 19th century, and particularly those made by the architect Alexandre Dufour between 1810 and 1832, have been added to those kept from the start in the offices at Versailles. And so, from the reign of Louis XIV to the years leading up to the French Revolution, this selection covers nearly all parts of the Palace and its subsidiary structures. This probably came from a desire to establish a documentary database, which contributed to an understanding of the locations and operations that contemporary architects would in turn tackle.
In 2019, all of these collections will be put online via the image database of the Centre de recherche du château de Versailles, thus providing an invaluable resource for the academic community and the general public.
Digitisation 2010
Campaign to digitise manuscripts and journals about the Palace of Versailles, belonging to the Bibliothèque municipale de Versailles.
Scientific direction by the Bibliothèque municipale de Versailles and the Centre de recherche du château de Versailles.
This project covered:
- 71 manuscripts from the 17th to the 19th century, relating to the operation of court services, works carried out at the Palace, water management at Versailles and court entertainments (7,883 pages),
- 17 Versailles almanacs (from 1773 to 1789) (6,125 pages) and 1 belonging to the Archives départementales des Yvelines (216 pages),
- 91 individual panels.
Project carried out with the financial support of the Mission de la recherche et de la technologie (MRT) and of the Délégation au développement et aux affaires internationales (DDAI) of the Ministry of Culture and Communication.
Monitoring of data migration and the installation of the flip-page tool using the Museum System tool, in preparation for going live in July 2012 on the image database of the Centre de recherche du château de Versailles.
Digitisation 2009
Digitisation of the plans and archives of the Frédéric Nepveu collection in the Palace of Versailles archives department
Directed by Karine McGrath, Head Archivist at the Palace of Versailles.
The Research Centre took part in the indexing of this collection.
This projet digitised the material produced by architect Frédéric Nepveu and his agency for Louis-Philippe’s transformation of the Palace of Versailles into the Musée de l’Histoire de France: the journal kept by the architect throughout the period (4 volumes totalling 2,038 pages) and a collection of plans and drawings (1,700 items).
The project was carried out with the financial support of the Mission de la recherche et de la technologie (MRT) and of the Délégation au développement et aux affaires internationales (DDAI) of the Ministry of Culture and Communication.
This project is planned to go online through the Palace of Versailles collections portal, currently under construction.
Earlier digitisation campaigns
Improvements carried out by the Research Centre to collections digitised by the Palace of Versailles in 2007 (Louis-Philippe albums) and in 2008 (engravings from the Prints and Drawings Room): removal of bugs linked to the migration and creation of files on individuals, key words, inscriptions, marks and descriptions for indexation.
Continued digitisation of photographic collections from the conservation collections of the Palace of Versailles (see digitisation 2008).
Digitisation 2008
Digitisation of prints in the Cabinet d’Arts Graphiques (Prints and Drawings Room) of the Palace of Versailles, data migration and publication on the image database of the Centre de recherche du château de Versailles
Directed by Nicolas Milovanovic, curator, Palace of Versailles.
The project involves 10,000 mounted engravings from the Cabinet d’Arts Graphiques of the Palace of Versailles, and includes images of leading figures, interior and exterior views, architectural details, decorations and furniture, all of which add to the knowledge of works in the collections of the Palace of Versailles.
This project was carried out with the financial support of the Mission de la recherche et de la technologie (MRT) and of the Délégation au développement et aux affaires internationales (DDAI) of the Ministry of Culture and Communication.
Digitisation of a photographic collection in the Conservation Department of the Palace of Versailles
Project management by the Centre de recherche du château de Versailles.
The collection of around 2,000 photographs mostly contains early views of the Palace and the Park, the interiors and furniture in Versailles and the Trianon. These photographs are being collated and digitised for the first time. The identity of the photographers is not known.
This project includes three photographic media: around 750 transparent black and white positives on glass plates, dating from 1900 to 1945, around 500 black and white paper prints, dating from 1940-1960, and around 750 colour slides dating from 1965 to 1975.
Migration and publication on the image database of the Centre de recherche du château de Versailles of the images digitised in 2007.
Digitisation 2007
Digitisation of the Louis-Philippe albums at the Palace of Versailles
Directed by Nicolas Milovanovic, curator, Palace of Versailles.
Pre-indexation of 16,350 prints from the collection of Louis-Philippe albums, and preparation of the images for digitisation.
Carried out with the financial support of the Mission de la recherche et de la technologie (MRT) of the Délégation au développement et aux affaires internationales (DDAI) of the Ministry of Culture and Communication.
Migration of digitised images in 2006
Migration in 2006 of digitised and pre-indexed images into The Museum System, the Palace of Versailles collections management system, (4,767 images). Identification, document search, then publication online of 4,200 of these images, with their information label (entries from the Palace collections, the Bibliothèque municipale de Versailles, the National Archives - Paris website - and the Bibliothèque nationale de France).
Monitoring of data migration into The Museum System, of scheduling and publishing on the image database of the Centre de recherche du château de Versailles.
Digitisation 2006
Digitisation of the Palace of Versailles collections
Directed by the Research Centre, in collaboration with the Palace of Versailles Archives Department and the Bibliothèque municipale de Versailles.
From January to June 2006, this joint initiative enabled the digitisation and partial indexation of 4,767 documents (film and original supports) from the following collections:
- Bibliothèque municipale de Versailles: digitisation of 2,399 original documents from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries (prints, engravings, albums, etc.) showing costumes, scenes of daily life, portraits and plans. This selection focuses mainly the period of Marie-Antoinette.
- The Palace of Versailles archives: 42 original plans (from the collection of Louis-Philippe’s architect, F. Nepveu) and 357 glass plates (interior and exterior views of the Palace of Versailles between 1950 and 1980).
- Palace of Versailles: after examining collections in a number of palace departments, in particular Jean-Marc Manaï’s photographic studio, 1,595 film supports were chosen. Several types of support were digitised: black and white and colour slides; paper prints; colour positives; black and white and colour glass plates donated by Général Joly and L. Diette (interior and exterior views of the Palaces of Versailles and the Trianon between 1914 and 1937).
