Hotel to open on Versailles grounds
Posted on Thursday 23 December 2010
in Paris
By Dylan Thomas
The city of Versailles, a wealthy suburb of Paris, hosts one of the most visited monuments in the world - the Palace of Versailles. Starting as early as 2011, an annex of the property will be converted into a luxury, 23-room hotel, the New York Times reports.
The annex, known as the Hotel du Grand Controle, was built by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, Louis XIV's favorite architect. At the time, it served as an official treasury building before being converted into a soldiers' mess hall. It reportedly maintained that function until 2006.
Recently, the Belgian company Ivy International took out a 30-year lease on the publicly-owned property, and has restored and modernized the annex. By the end of 2011, all restorations will be complete, and a luxury hotel will open to the public in the annex. Rooms will feature views on the Swiss Ornamental Lake and on the Orangerie - the greenhouse of the Palace of Versailles.
Kiwis planning flights to Paris may want to pay a visit to Versailles to view the renovations that have been made to the historical annex of the famous palace.
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