Part of the Grande Singerie (The Monkey Room) in the Chantilly castle
© AFP/File Francois Guillot

CHANTILLY, France (AFP) - The 30 square-metre (about 320 square feet) boudoir, which reopens to the public this week, is entirely covered from floor to ceiling -- including the ceiling -- with paintings of monkeys dressed as humans and engaged in human activities.

Few examples of this fashion remain. The room at Chantilly had fallen into disrepair, along with much of the estate north of Paris where a 20-year restoration effort is being financed in part by the Aga Khan, one of the world's richest men and spiritual leader of the 15 million Shia Ismaili Muslims.

"It was dirty, there were cracks due to the humidity, and the colours on the woodwork were all washed out," said restorer Cinzia Pasquali, who also helped refurbish the fabulous Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles.

Grande Singerie (The Monkey Room), in the Chantilly castle
© AFP/File Francois Guillot

Other than the Renaissance chateau, the estate includes a vast garden designed by Andre le Notre -- who also planned the grounds at Versailles, a racecourse, stables, and the biggest classical art collection in France outside the Louvre.

The Grand Monkey Room took a team of 25 experts six months of meticulous work, using special biodegradable soap and a two-step gilding process -- "with water for a polished effect, with oil for a matt finish - the height of refinement," said Pasquali.

This Oriental-style decor "was very fashionable in the late 17th and 18th centuries," another restorer, Nicole Garnier, told AFP. "There was a taste for the exotic and for Chinese-style salons."

Long thought to have been done by the French rococo artist Antoine Watteau, the wall paintings are now assigned to animal painter Christopher Huet -- responsible for a smaller monkey room in Chantilly and another one in the National Archives in Paris.

Dating from 1737, the room's panels also include Chinese figures. "The iconography is very complicated. It represents both the world, but also the five senses," said Garnier.

Part of the Grande Singerie (The Monkey Room) in the Chantilly castle
© AFP Francois Guillot

Its restoration cost 530,000 euros (777,000 dollars), paid for by US patrons via the World Monuments Fund as well as the Aga Khan's Foundation for the Safeguard and Development of Chantilly.

The chateau itself was bequeathed by the Duke of Aumale, the son of King Louis-Philippe, to the French Institute, which manages many of the country's museums and chateaux, at the end of the 19th century. But Chantilly was sinking into disrepair until the Aga Khan -- who owns property nearby and has already restored the Chantilly racecourse -- set up the Foundation in 2005.

The revived "Grand Monkey Room" is the start of a major refurbishing of the former royal estate, where once the noted chef Francois Vatel -- creator of Chantilly cream -- committed suicide when an arrival of fish was late for a banquet in honor of King Louis XIV and 3,000 dignitaries.

About 430,000 people visit each year, but the Aga Khan's Foundation said the the goal is to double this figure and "put Chantilly on the world cultural and tourist map".

©AFP