The rediscovered Treasure of the Sun King

In 1668, as King Louis XIV prepared to make the Louvre his royal residence, he entrusted his First Painter, Charles Le Brun, with a bold and magnificent commission: the creation of 92 carpets, woven at the Savonnerie Manufactory, to adorn the floor of the palace’s most majestic gallery. Each carpet, nine meters wide, was meant to form a spectacular decorative ensemble, one of the most ambitious ever conceived for a royal palace.

Fate, however, took a different course. Never installed in the Louvre, these treasures crossed the centuries through revolutions, sales, and dispersals. Today, 41 original carpets remain in the collections of the National Manufactories, 33 of which are perfectly preserved.

Brought together for the first time beneath the glass roof of the Grand Palais, alongside a carpet designed for the Galerie d’Apollon, they offer a display of rare magnificence. A unique and historic event, lasting just one week, inviting visitors to discover these jewels of French heritage in a setting worthy of their splendor.

Exhibition co-produced by the GrandPalaisRmn and Les Manufactures nationales - Sèvres & Mobilier national.

Curatorship

Wolf Burchard - Curator, Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Emmanuelle Federspiel - Conservatrice en chef du patrimoine, inspectrice des collections des Manufactures nationales - Sèvres & Mobilier national

Antonin Macé de Lépinay - Inspecteur des collections des Manufactures nationales - Sèvres & Mobilier national

Scénographie: Clément Hado and Anthony Lelonge - Manufactures nationales