"No repairs, broken glass, all kinds of rubbish inside the houses (even a corset), obscene scribbling on the walls, crumbling plaster, broken roofs...” thus wrote a reader in despair, in a letter published by the Echo de Paris on November 3rd, 1907.

Upon which Eugène Tardieu, a journalist with the newspaper, went to see for himself and also wrote: “there are no windows left, rain water falls through the open roofs. At night, vagabonds meet in the cottages where they find comfortable and quiet shelter [there are only three [!] night guards for a domain of 3,5 sq miles]. Fortunately, they just sleep there and leave their rubbish behind."

Recalling the efforts made by the government since Louis-Philippe’s time, he commented on the meagre share Versailles received from the public budget and concluded "What the State can only partially accomplish would have been complemented by private initiative in other countries."

"A strong public movement was formed in favour of protecting Versailles, and the idea of a circle of friends gradually took shape for this ambitious project. The museum’s curator, Pierre de Nolhac, granted his full support as the number of followers grew rapidly. A founding committee recruited two leading politicians, Millerand and Poincaré, to draw up the statutes of the new organisation. The Société des Amis de Versailles was formally established on December 19, 1907, and declared non-profit on April 16, 1913.