“For security reasons the Palace of Versailles is evacuating visitors and closing today,” the establishment added on its official account on X (formerly Twitter).
This comes days after the former French royal residence, Louvre Museum, and several other tourist locations were evacuated following a reported bomb alert. Citing security concerns, Paris’ Louvre Museum abruptly closed its doors to the public.
France: Man who killed teacher was under surveillance for radicalisation, Macron condemns ‘barbarity of Islamist terrorism’
“The Louvre received a written message stating that there was a risk to the museum and its visitors”, a spokeswoman said after announcing the closure on social media. “We have decided… to evacuate and close it for the day, while we carry out the necessary checks”.
French President Emmanuel Macron had also ordered up to 7,000 soldiers to be mobilised for increased security patrols. Macron’s office said the soldiers would be mobilised by Monday evening until further notice as part of an ongoing operation that regularly conducts patrols in major city centres and tourist sites.
The latest security alert comes as France hosts the Rugby World Cup and less than a year before Paris welcomes the Olympic Games, which include plans for an unprecedented opening ceremony outside a stadium and a parade down the river Seine.
Last week, a 20-year-old man fatally stabbed a teacher and injured two other people in an attack at a school in the northern France city of Arras that President Emmanuel Macron condemned as “barbaric Islamic terrorism.”
