Les salles d’Afrique : construction et décor sous la monarchie de Juillet (1830-1848)

The construction and decoration of the Salles d’Afrique was part of Louis‑Philippe’s plan to create a museum of French history in the Château de Versailles. This exceptional set of rooms was built between 1837 and 1847. Designed to commemorate the conquest of Algeria, the decorative and iconographic programme soon celebrated major French victories as well as France’s civilising and expansionist ambitions. First of all, this presentation attempts to put the set of rooms back into context, not only within the museum, in order to understand their status and signification at the heart of Louis-Philippe’s political ambitions, but also by recalling the conquest of Algeria and the place of Orientalism in nineteenth-century Europe. Secondly, the major phases of the construction and installation by the architect Frédéric Nepveu are explored, as well as the relationship of Horace Vernet, official painter of these rooms, with the king, who put him in charge of the decoration. To conclude, the iconography of the Salle de Constantine, the only room to be completed, is analysed