VIVE LA FRANCE

In advance of this summer's Olympic Games, Atelier De France's expert artisans are working to make sure Paris landmarks shine as bright as ever

- DANA THOMAS

More than 15 million spectators are expected to descend on Paris for the Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer, and they won’t be there to see only sporting events. As always, the city’s world-class cultural institutions and monuments will be a draw, while serving as elegant backdrops for television broadcasts worldwide. To make sure Paris sparkles, France’s Ministry of Culture, among other agencies, launched initiatives to buff up its landmarks, including the Palais Garnier opera house, the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, and the Grand Palais. Working tirelessly behind the scenes has been Ateliers De France, a consortium of 50-plus artisan firms that specialize in restoration of architectural heritage.

“Our mission is to preserve patrimony,” said the group’s president, Antoine Courtois, during a visit to one member: Atelier Mériguet-Carrère, a 64-year-old studio in the Marais that specializes in decorative painting, gold leafing, and leatherwork. Among the historic sites Atelier Mériguet-Carrère has assisted in refreshing: the White House Oval Office and the Élysée Palace. “We say that not to transmit such skills is theft,” Courtois said. “We learn, and we must share.”

At the 1875 Palais Garnier, which will be open to the public during the Games, Atelier Mériguet-Carrère is regilding the comedy and tragedy masks that run across the top of the façade, as well as the bronze busts of composers and librettists tucked in its niches. The firm has also brought the aureate shimmer back to fences that enclose the Luxor Obelisk on the Place de la Concorde and the Luxembourg Gardens.