Musée de l'Histoire de France (Versailles)
The Musée de l'Histoire de France (Museum of French History) is a museum that was created by King Louis Philippe I in the Palace of Versailles and opened in 1837. At the time, it represented an ambitious project of national reconciliation between the hitherto competing narratives of the French monarchy and the French Revolution, to which Louis-Philippe devoted significant personal attention. Whereas it gradually faded in importance as a museum in the later 19th century, its lavish historicist decoration remains a major exemplar of the art of France's July Monarchy. History. When  Louis-Philippe became king in 1830 following the July Revolution, the Palace of Versailles had been mostly unoccupied for more than 40 years and had fallen into disrepair. Louis-Philippe, who had a personal interest in history, decided in 1833 to repurpose the massive building for a non-residential use. His minister Marthe Camille Bachasson, Count of Montalivet was instrumental in the development of the museum project. A number of new rooms and galleries were created by restructuring the palace's interior spaces and destroying a number of pre-existing apartments. The design was coordinated by architect , with assistance from  Pierre Fontaine for the concept of zenithal lighting of the Galerie des Batailles. The museum was inaugurated on 10 June 1837 with a lavish opening ceremony. The museum displayed artefacts formerly in other national collections, especially portraits of past monarchs and other historically significant individuals, as well as works specifically commissioned for it. Victor Hugo, who attended the inauguration, was appreciative of the project in his personal notes: Further work was carried out to expand the museum under the Second French Empire in the 1850s and 1860s and in the early years of the Third Republic. In the late 19th  century, however, Versailles curator Pierre de Nolhac put emphasis on the restoration of the pre-revolutionary state of the palace, and dismantled some of the museum's arrangements. The museum's rooms and collection are now managed by the Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles together with the rest of the palace and domains. Most of the corresponding galleries and exhibition spaces are not permanently open to the public. Galleries and collections. Most of the paintings are kept in the attics of the palace's North and South Wings. These exhibition spaces are complemented by  several prestige galleries: With over 6,000 paintings and 3,000 sculptures, the museum's collections are the premier source of iconography on French history.