Board Director of Palace of Versailles to speak at our 'Cultural Cities'

Image: courtesy of National Estate of Versailles

Future Cities Forum is delighted that Colleen Ritzau Leth, Board Director of the Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum, and National Estate of Versailles (Château de Versailles) will be speaking at our 'Cultural Cities' forum this May at The Tower of London..

Appointed by the French Ministry of Culture in 2021, she is serving a second term while leading the institution's engagement in the United Kingdom.

At Versailles, Colleen works with leadership, the board, and peer national museums to advance international tourism strategy, visitor infrastructure, and the positioning of cultural heritage destinations as drivers of diplomacy globally as well as economic vitality and public engagement at the regional level.

Colleen specialises in museum strategy, with expertise in master planning and public–private partnerships. With over 20 years of international experience, her work sits at the intersection of historic cultural institutions, the built environment, and evolving models of audience engagement.

She began her career in international affairs, working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Royal Academy of Arts, and the Cairo Museum in global affairs before earning an MBA and focusing on capital project strategy. In recent years,

Colleen has contributed to masterplan strategies for the British Museum, the British Academy, several Oxford colleges, MACBA and, most recently, the Louvre Museum's Nouvelle Renaissance scheme.

Colleen serves on the boards of the American Friends of Statens Museum for Kunst (the National Gallery of Denmark), Site-Specific Dances, the Institute of Fine Arts Alumni Board, and CORA Foundation. She is a co-owner of Tauck, a global travel company, and Founder of CORA Ventures, a social enterprise making program related investments in the cultural sector.

Colleen holds degrees from Columbia University, the Institute of Fine Arts at NYU, and the University of Oxford. She is currently completing a PhD at the Courtauld Institute of Art, focusing on the evolution of Versailles' domain and capital project strategy since the Fifth Republic.

The latest project of restoration at the Palace of Versailles is in the Salon of Diana. Located along the enfilade of the King’s Grand Apartment, the salon of Diana was, until the destruction of the adjacent Ambassador’s Staircase, one of the first rooms through which visitors entered the king’s apartment. Under the reign of Louis XIV, this room hosted a billiard table during the soirées d’appartement.

The Palace of Versailles stated:

'The sumptous decoration of the salon of Diana dates from the 1670s and is indicated to the goddess of the hunt and the night. The walls are adorned with polychrome marbles and paintings set into the decoration (The Sacrifice of Iphigenia by Charles de La Fosse above the fireplace and Diana and Endymion by Gabriel Blanchard on the opposite wall).

'The ceiling and arches are decorated with canvas murals and gilded sculptural motifs. At the centre is The Chariot of Diana by Gabriel Blanchard, who also executed three of the four overdoor paintings: Diana and Actaeon, Diana Protecting Arethusa from the River God Alpheus, and The Sacrifice Made to Diana. The remaining overdoor, Diana Receiving Offerings, is by Claude II Audran.

'Gabriel Blanchard also executed two of the four lunettes: Caesar Sending a Colony to Carthage and Cyrus Hunting the Boar. The other two lunettes, Jason Arriving in Colchis and Alexander Hunting the Lion, were painted by Charles de La Fosse.

The ceiling and lunette paintings are separated by gilded stucco and grisaille decorations, some of which, representing royal emblems, were removed during the Revolution in 1794 and returned in 1815.

'The Salon of Diana is also famous for hosting the bust of Louis XIV by Bernini, created by the master of Baroque sculpture during his stay in France in 1665. It was installed here by order of the king in 1686, on a marble pedestal flanked by gilded bronze trophies and topped with two putti holding the royal crown.

'The restoration of the Salon of Diana will focus on the painted and sculpted decoration of the ceiling and lunettes, as well as the four overdoor paintings. The paintings are in a concerning state of preservation and currently present an unsatisfactory aesthetic appearance. Significant adhesion problems between the paint layers and the canvas have caused flaking, tears, and distortions. The varnish layers are oxidised, soiled, and discoloured. The surfaces show lifting and losses, and large, discordant, and overextended retouches are visible, disfiguring the compositions.

'The stuccoes are globally in poor condition, although they do not present any major structural concerns. Only a few isolated cracks have appeared, mostly small and fine. The gilding shows some deterioration ; it is generally soiled and lacks uniformity, particularly due to visible repairs and the use of bronzing in previous restorations. Thanks to the work of the restorers, this decorative ensemble will thus regain all its former splendour!

'The restoration, which began on 21 October 2024, is expected to last 14 months. The restoration of the Salon of Diana is made possible thanks to the patronage of Dior and the American Friends of Versailles, with the support of the Société des Amis de Versailles.'