The Coach Gallery

The Carriage Museum of Versailles in a wing of the Grande Ecurie opposite the chateau displays the most important surviving ceremonial carriages of the French court. The collection was founded in 1831 by King Louis-Philippe and moved to the former royal stables in 1985; after lengthy renovation it is now permanently open. Star exhibits include Napoleon I's wedding berlin, regilded for his marriage to Marie-Louise of Austria in 1810, the black-draped hearse that carried Louis XVIII to burial, and the coronation coach of Charles X from 1825 - the last of its kind in Europe. The museum also presents historical harnesses and sleighs. Since many carriages reach four metres in height, the hall with its open timber roof feels like an aristocratic barn.