The CRCV Celebrates Its 20^th Anniversary

Founded in 2006, the Center conducts and supports research on the sites and expressions of power, particularly at Versailles and in the European courts of the 17^th and 18^th centuries.

For the past twenty years, its research programs and projects, publications, documentary and digital resources, as well as its conferences and training programs, have grown thanks to the work of numerous researchers and the collaboration of partner institutions in France and abroad.

As a Public Interest Group, the Centre de recherche du château de Versailles now brings together eight cultural and academic institutions and public entities that contribute to its operations and the development of its scientific activities: the ministère de la Culture, the Établissement public du château, du musée et du domaine national de Versailles, the Ville de Versailles, Sorbonne Université, the université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, the École du Louvre, the université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and CY Cergy Paris Université.

Discover the Center in a Video

To celebrate its 20^th anniversary, the Center invites you to learn about its missions, research areas, and activities through a video presentation featuring its founder, Béatrix Saule, its director, Mathieu da Vinha, and its team.

Watch the introductory video on YouTube (in French)

Twenty Years in a Few Figures

Research programs, publications, scientific events, and digital resources: this infographic (in French) presents some key figures highlighting the Center’s activities since its creation.

The Press Release

The Centre de recherche du château de Versailles and the Établissement public du château, du musée et du domaine national de Versailles—one of its founding members—have joined forces to present, through a press release (in French), the Center’s history, its missions, and the outlook for its activities.

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Twenty Years of Research: An Anniversary Year Focused on the Future and Digital Technology

October 27, 2026, will mark the start of an anniversary year that will continue through October 2027. While continuing its research activities, scientific events, teaching and training programs, publications, and the expansion of its documentary resources, the Centre de recherche du château de Versailles will launch several initiatives designed to expand access to sources, promote the dissemination of knowledge, and update the digital tools available to researchers and the general public.

• Launch of the new “Immersailles” portal featuring three new locations (the Menagerie, the Grand Commun, and the King’s Bodyguards’ Quarters) (fall 2026);
• Online release of a new collection of over 2,000 plans from the VERSPERA project covering the gardens of Versailles, Trianon, the Menagerie, and outbuildings in the town (fall 2026);
• Six new datasets from our documentary databases will be made available on Data.gouv.fr (winter 2027);
• A graphical and technical redesign of the “Curia” website, which explores the personnel of the French Court through the Estates of France (winter 2027);
• Launch of the new “Visucour” website, featuring visualizations (maps, timelines, networks, statistics, charts) of data from our “Prosocour” database (spring 2027);
• Launch of an interactive mapping website on diplomacy in Paris during the 17^th and 18^th centuries (spring–summer 2027);
• Official online release of the first corpus from the digital edition of the queen’s correspondence as part of the “Letters of Marie-Antoinette – LMA” project (sometime in 2027);
• New website for the Center (fall 2027);
• New newsletter for the Center (fall 2027);
• Academic event to conclude the Center’s 20^th-anniversary year (October 2027).