The Apollo Fountain sculpture at the Château de Versailles has finally returned from its first serious restoration in 100 years, just in time for the 2024 Summer Olympics, when the royal grounds will host the equestrian competitions of jumping and dressage, as well as para-equestrian events and the five modern pentathlon tournaments.
Positioned at the head of the Grand Canal, the Baroque masterpiece was designed by Charles Le Brun and executed by Jean-Baptiste Tuby between 1668 and 1671. Thirty at the time, Louis XIV, the king of France, was impatient to make his mark on the gardens, which is why the fountain’s 13 figures were not carved in marble but molded in lead and coated in bronze powder. During the long reign of this king, the powder was regularly touched up by a man in a small boat. But in the 1800s, the procedure was abandoned and gilding was applied. Now, after 18 months of careful work and 35,000 sheets of gold leaf, the formerly rusty, mossy, and cracked Apollo Fountain figures are once again splendidly ablaze.
