Lustre Gabriel
“Crystal, lights, castle – your mind thinks that’s a pretty normal situation,” said Erwan Bouroullec, but the Lustre Gabriel is the first contemporary lighting design commission installed in the Palace of Versailles.
The Lustre Gabriel is a chandelier created by Erwan and Ronan Bouroullec with engineering assistance and crystal from Swarovski. Looking at the chandelier, it would seem as if it has been elegantly suspended from the ceiling for years, but it has only been in the Palace since 2013.
In 2011, the Bouroullec brothers won a competition that was initiated by the Palace of Versailles’ then director, Jean-Jacques Aillagon. He decided that the large, marble Gabriel Staircase needed a focal point to light up the Palace’s main entry.
The Bouroullec’s vision was to create a piece of art that would connect the past with the present. The result was a 12-metre high ‘necklace’ style chandelier suspected in loops from the ceiling. Its strands are constructed from hundreds of Swarovski crystals forming a cascading, contemporary chain.
Take a look inside the Palace at the stunning installation of the Lustre Gabriel here:
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