The Crusades Rooms

A Political intent

This project was above all Louis-Philippe's tribute to the Legitimist, “immemorial” nobility, who shunned his regime and whose support he tirelessly sought. This old Nobility of the Sword was the soul of the Crusades, going to liberate Christ’s tomb in Jerusalem from the end of the 11th century to the end of the 13th century, and thereafter ensuring pilgrim routes were safe. The depiction of the crusades appeared quite early in the king's Versailles project, but the room was only created following Sultan Mahmud II'sMahmud II (1784-1839), Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1808-1839). donation of the Rhodes Door in 1836.

Refurbishment of the North Wing

The works were placed on the garden level in the central pavilion of the North Wing, the Noailles Pavilion, renamed the “King’s Pavilion”. The Palace architect Frédéric Nepveu replaced the Ancien Régime’s five residential stories with three levels: kitchens on the ground floor, for receptions the king held at the palace; the Crusades Rooms at garden level, with first one and then five rooms; and spaces on the history of Louis-Philippe’s reign on the 1st floor, now the Africa Rooms. Work on the Crusades Rooms began in 1837, and was completed in several steps: the great room was finished in 1842; all the rooms opened in May 1843; the decorative painting was completed in 1846. But in February 1848, when the regime collapsed, several paintings were still missing.

The Rhodes Door

The Rhodes Door arrived in France in 1837 and served as the model for all the decor of the Crusades Rooms. The door came from the Order of the Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of JerusalemThe order of Saint John of Jerusalem, or the order of the Hospitaller, was originally founded in the 11th century to welcome pilgrims in the Holy Land. It later concurrently developed military activity to ensure the safety of pilgrims on the major land and sea pilgrim routes towards the Holy Land. After successive military setbacks, the order withdrew to Acre, then to Cyprus and finally to Rhodes., which was based on the Island of Rhodes in the beginning of the 14th century. The Order had been chased out of the Holy Land in 1291, following the fall of Acre, which put an end to the Crusades.

The double-leaf door is richly sculpted in late Gothic style. It dates from 1512 and features a small statue of Saint John the Baptist, the order’s patron. It was rediscovered in 1836 and stored in a Hospital warehouse by one of Louis-Philippe’s sons, the Prince of Joinville, who had the Sultan gift it to his father for his Versailles museum.

The masters of 19th-century painting

The five Crusades Rooms tell the story of the eight main crusades, between the end of the 11th and the end of the 13th century. They also recount the main events in the history of the Knights Hospitaller, from their departure from the Holy Land at the end of the 13th century, until their arrival on the Island of Malta in the 16th century. The 125 paintings in these rooms, inset into the wood panelling, were produced by many historical and portrait painters living in Paris at the time: DelacroixA Romantic painter in the 19th century, Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863) received multiple commissions for historic paintings. He was related to the Rieseners, studied under Guérin and first became known thanks to the support of Gros and Thiers., GranetA French Neoclassical painter, François Marius Granet (1775-1849) studied under David and was a friend of Ingres. He was a curator at the Musée du Louvre and then at the Palace of Versailles, upon the request of Louis-Philippe, with the aim of creating a museum of the history of France., BlondelA French Neoclassical painter, Merry-Joseph Blondel (1781-1853) received major commissions for the Louvre, Palais Brongniart and the Palace of Versailles., LarivièreCharles-Philippe Auguste Larivière (1798-1876) was a French painter in the 19th century who specialised in historic subjects., SchnetzA pupil of David and later Gros and Gérard, Jean-Victor Schnetz (1787-1870) succeeded Indres at the head of the French Academy in Rome. He successfully invented a middle-ground in the animosity between the Romantics and Neoclassicists., SignolEmile Signol (1804-1892) was a French painter in the 19th century., OdierEdouard Odier (1800-1887) was a French painter in the 19th century who specialsed in portraits and historic subjects. He was a pupil of Coutan and Ingres. etc. There are also works by young artists from other countries who came to France for training: the two main representatives of the first romantic school in Belgium, Louis GallaitA Beligian painter in the 19th century, Louis Gallait (1810-1887) created a school of historic painting for which he was known across Europe. and Gustaf WappersA Belgian painter and sculptor in the 19th century, Gustave Wappers (1803-1874) belonged to the Historic Romanticism movement. He was Director of the Academy of painting of Anvers. He also worked in Paris where he received commissions from Louis-Philippe., as well as a promising young Spaniard, Federico de Madrazo y KunstA Spanish Romantic painter in the 19th century, Federico de Madrazo y Kunst (1815-1895) specialised in historic paintings. He was Director of the Museo del Prado and Director of the Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando..

Some of the works in the Crusades Rooms

Historic and artistic testimony

Louis-Philippe wanted a fully Gothic-style decor that included old features to lend historic and authentic support to his account. In the Great Room, in addition to the Rhodes Door, is a bronze mortar of the same origin as well as a statue of the praying figure of Villiers de l’Isle-Adam, a Grand Master of the order. Before the French Revolution, the statue was to be found on a monument dedicated to him in the Le Temple church in Paris.

Today, the decor in the Crusades Rooms is one of the oldest and most complete French Neo-Gothic collections still intact.

The Historic galleries also include

• The Gallery of Great Battles
• The 1830 Room
• The Coronation Room
• The Empire Rooms
• The Africa, Crimea and Italy Rooms
• The 1792 Room
• The North and South Attics