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Hong Kong to host about 100 masterpieces from the Palace of Versailles as part of Beijing, Paris 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations

  • Hong Kong Palace Museum says about 80 to 100 pieces will be exhibited, as part of the Franco-Chinese year of cultural tourism
  • Exhibition among efforts to build closer ties between countries and with understanding the preferences of Chinese audiences, museum director says

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The Palace of Versailles in Paris. Its museum director says the share of Chinese visitors to the site has dropped since the pandemic. Photo: Xinhua
Ambrose Li
About 100 masterpieces from the Palace of Versailles will be displayed in Hong Kong in December this year after a showcase in Beijing, as part of celebrations to commemorate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and France.
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Bringing the exhibition to China was important to learning what the country’s audience wanted to see and why they visited the French palace, said Laurent Salome, director of the National Museum of the Palaces of Versailles and Trianon.

“China was 12 to 14 per cent of the visitors of Versailles before the pandemic, and now it’s just 2 per cent but I think [the numbers are] going to come back very soon,” Salome said in a panel discussion on Tuesday during the International Cultural Summit in Hong Kong.

“By coming here and working on exhibitions with our colleagues in the museums, we see the reactions and so it helps us have a real exchange when they come [to Versailles],” he said, adding that he was not looking at tourist numbers but building deeper connections with visitors.

Hong Kong Palace Museum said about 80 to 100 pieces would be exhibited, as part of the Franco-Chinese year of cultural tourism.

Gifting art is an important diplomatic tool in France that was likely to have started in the 17th and 18th centuries, director of the Versailles museum has said.
Gifting art is an important diplomatic tool in France that was likely to have started in the 17th and 18th centuries, director of the Versailles museum has said.

The Beijing edition of the exhibition will feature nearly 150 works that illustrate the exchanges between France and China in the 17th and 18th centuries from the collections of Versailles and Beijing’s Palace Museum, where the show will be held from April 1.

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