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The Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles and Trianon form a listed historical monument, so all the development projects affecting the subsoil are preceded by historical and archaeological research work. The latter takes the form of probes to detect the presence of possible vestiges, whose presence leads to more in-depth excavation work.

Excavations in the Queen’s Grove © A. Heitzmann

While archaeological work was carried out in Versailles throughout the 20th century, it became systematic only in the early 1990s with the launch of the general replanting of the park, devastated by the storm of 3 February 1990.

These archaeological excavations are carried out by the palace of Versailles, which has an archaeologist among its personnel (Annick Heitzmann), attached to the Centre de Recherche du Château de Versailles (CRCV). She is assisted by volunteers organised in a non-profit organisation (Volutes). The archaeological work is authorised, monitored and sometimes funded by the Service Régional de l’Archéologie d’Ile-de-France. In the case of preventive excavations, it calls on the expertise of approved bodies, notably the Institut National de Recherche en Archéologie Préventive (INRAP).

Since 1990, ten places have been excavated by the palace of Versailles (or by the CRCV since it was set up in 2006), some several times. Most of the excavations concern structures from the reign of Louis XIV located in the Park of Versailles.

Location of the excavation programmes undertaken by the palace of Versailles