A renovated Commander's Lounge
The Belem âeuros school ship, museum and ambassador three-masted barque âeuros was designed in 1896 to serve as a French merchant ship until 1914. It then became a British yacht, an Italian training ship, and is now part of the French heritage. Discover the history of the Belem and its many lives in our special report .
The ship-boat celebrates in 2016 its 120th anniversary and for the occasion it offers a new captain's lounge of the Belem, dating from the British era of three-masted ships. From 1914 to 1919, the Duke of Westminster made the boat a luxury yacht. It is from this period that the interior layout of the captain's lounge dates, whose furniture has been restored. At that time, the transformation of the merchant ship into a luxury yacht lasted four years. The Duke called upon a renowned decorator, the firm of Marples & Co, for a budget of £100,000 (about £3,000,000 today) or 126,634 euros at the time (379,896 euros today).
The Belem Foundation, in collaboration with the State (which finances 50% of the work) launched this restoration program, entrusted to the Ateliers de La Chapelle, a family business located in Maine-et-Loire. This work, worth a total of 15,000 euros, which lasted several weeks, was completed before the next major departure of the ship for 7 months, on March 31, 2016.
The new commander's lounge
To be able to carry out this work, in 2014 and 2015, the Belem Foundation waterproofed the Belem's dunette, which overhangs the furniture in the commander's lounge. "We have long wanted to restore the library, the bar, the desk and the commander's chair to their former luxury. These pieces of furniture are very damaged and it was urgent to restore them to preserve them. We had to obtain the authorization of the DRAC, because the Belem is classified as a historical monument since 1984. The furniture of this salon is not a museum furniture reserved only for the pleasure of the eyes. It is used daily by the captain and the restoration must allow this daily use to continue says Christelle de Larauze, general delegate of the Belem Foundation.
The work was carried out by heritage curators of the DRAC and various professionals (cabinetmaker, bronze worker, upholstererâeuros¦). "The goal is to make a coherent whole. It's quite a delicate job, because we have to reproduce small pieces of wood and then put them back to the same colors as the old one, which requires a quite careful cabinetmaking work in the finishing touches to give back to the mahogany its original shine "explains Dominique Bienaimé, in charge of supervising the project at the Chapelle workshops.
The Belem in navigation by Benjamin Decoin
The Belem, ready to sail the 2016 season
To better prepare for the 2016 season, the Belem has undergone a complete check-up: hull cleaned and repainted, yard replacedâeuros¦ The three-masted ship will leave for a first navigation between Nantes and Brest dès March 31. Many places in navigation are still available.
The Belem can be found as an ambassador of our country at several events in 2016, such as in Nantes from June 4 to 13 and at the Brest Festival in July.
