The Palace of Versailles reopened to visitors on Tuesday, October 6, after a large-scale electrical failure forced the world-famous monument to close its doors earlier in the day.
The château announced its reopening in a message posted on X at 2:39 p.m., roughly three hours after it had confirmed the closure. The shutdown was prompted by a power failure across the Yvelines department west of Paris.
Gardens and Trianon Estate Stayed Open
In its initial statement, the palace said the gardens would remain accessible free of charge, and that the Trianon estate — including the Sofia Coppola exhibition — would stay open despite the outage affecting the main building.
The Prefect of Yvelines described the incident as a “major electrical failure” affecting Versailles and the surrounding area. In a message posted on X at 12:30 p.m., the prefecture said more than 30,000 customers had been left without power, with the disruption also reaching the nearby town of Vélizy.
Situation Returns to Normal
Authorities confirmed that the situation had returned to normal by the afternoon, allowing the palace to welcome visitors again. The outage had briefly threatened access to one of France’s most visited cultural sites, a UNESCO World Heritage landmark that draws millions of tourists each year.
