Research seminar “Versailles: art and history”
For the 2026–2027 academic year, the Centre de recherche du château de Versailles is organising a research seminar for students registered at its university and member institutions.
The exclusively interdisciplinary seminar will at all times be considering the history of art in association with social and political history, based around five themes focusing primarily on Versailles, and more generally on the places and expression of monarchical power from the modern era to the present day.
First sequence: “The King and the Court at Versailles” (an overview of the historiography of royal courts in France and Europe). This will be followed by discovering in situ the rites and ceremonies associated with the sovereign’s everyday life.
Second sequence: “Ceremonies, Festivals, and Celebrations” (festivals, entertainment, and public revelry in the modern era).
Third sequence: “Versailles and the Revolution”.
Fourth sequence: “The Court and the Palace after the Ancien Régime” (court society and the Palace of Versailles after the Revolution).
Fifth sequence: “Contemporary Versailles” (an exploration of Versailles at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries).
The seminar is directed by Flavie Leroux and Bastien Coulon, research officers at the Centre de recherche du château de Versailles.
For the 2026-2027 academic year, the seminar will take place on Mondays from January 11 to February 8, 2026.
Master’s (M2) and doctoral students enrolled at partner institutions of the Centre de recherche du château de Versailles are invited to apply for the seminar through our call for applications by October 26, 2026 (see below).
