Outrage over Versailles Palace metal arcs
Outrage has greeted the erection of giant metal arcs in the gards of Versailles Palace in Paris for its summer exhibition.
The monumental sculpture of the french artist Bernar Venet in the gardens Photo: AP Photo/Bob Edme
By Henry Samuel, Paris
4:29PM BST 01 Jun 2011
Locals claim the metal rods spoil the view and violate planning permission rules. The Sun King's palace gardens are home to seven huge steel ruddy brown arcs designed by French artist Bernard Venet until November.
The biggest in the Place d'Armes stands 22m tall and encircles Louis XIV's equestrian statue, overhanging it and framing the chateau.
The artist has described Versailles as "the perfect venue for my sculptures – and a real challenge to take on such a sublime, grandiose milieu."
But a residents association, ARAP, do not agree and are taking the chateau and its president, Jean-Jacques Aillagon, to court to have the sculptures removed.
They argue they violate building rules as the artist had to dig beneath ground level to fix the giant sculptures.
"They impose rules to local residents in terms of urbanism while the monarch Aillagon reigns over his kingdom and does whatever he pleases. It's outrageous," said Guy Escudié, ARAP's president.
The row is the latest in a string of run-ins between Mr Aillagon and Versailles traditionalists, who found that previous exhibitions within the chateau by contemporary artists were unseemly.
In 2008, a French heir of Louis XIV failed to ban an exhibition by pop US artist Jeff Koons on the grounds it disrespected his royal ancestors with "pornography."
Anne Brassié-Auger, a local resident who led an unsuccesful fight against Takeshi Murakami's exhibition in Versailles, said the latest exhibition was like putting a "pierced lip on the Mona Lisa".
Mr Aillagon dismissed the criticism, saying: "We are used to it, it happens every time. We have faith in the courts."
The court hearing is due on June 14.
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