Every Palace needs a grand gate....right?

Versailles is going through a 20 year restoration project begun in 2005. The "new gates" were installed in 2008 at a cost of about $5 million. The other renovations that are on going include: steps to make the palace safer, warmer, and streamline guest entrances, repair large areas of roof and replace around 500 window frames.

The new/old gate was touted as an exact replica of the gate constructed in the 1680's under the reign of Louis XIV. This wording has irked many in the art and architecture worlds. "How do they know it is exact?" came the cries from The Art Tribune and other scholarly sources? It certainly is bright and some would even say gaudy.

Voltaire described Versailles "as a masterpiece of bad taste and magnificence" so the bright gate seems to fit into this way of thinking.

Sooner than later we will see these shiny gates dull with pollution and our eyes will adjust (just like they did with the pyramid at the Louvre) and we will wonder what all the fuss was about.

Have a PINK day!