To the Rescue

"Versailles is now saved," beamed Andre Cornu, French under secretary of state for fine arts. Calling in Paris newsmen he triumphantly announced that the money had finally been raised to start a major restoration job on the famous old palace which has long been in seedy disrepair (TIME, Dec. 10, 1951).

The announcement was something of a personal triumph for Cornu. A little over a year ago he asked the government to put up 5 billion francs (close to $15 million) for the five-year reconstruction job. The government would only promise 365 million francs a year, so Cornu turned fund-raiser himself. Soon the money was pouring in. Movie stars raised 30 million raffling off cars at a Paris auto show, the state-run casino at suburban Enghien signed up for 30 million a year, the French National Lottery promised another 400 million a year. From all over France donations came in from benefit dances, music festivals, theater performances and house-to-house canvases. Everybody contributed, from the Bank of France (10 million francs) to retiring U.S. Ambassador David Bruce (400,000 francs).

Last week, with his first year's billion francs on hand, Secretary Cornu had platoons of workmen swarming over the palace on the first big job: laying watertight new lead plate on 27 acres of leaky roofs. During the next two years the interior will reconditioned and repaired, and Versailles will begin to display its old glories to the 700,000 or more visitors who roam its ornate halls every year.

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