“Oh, they’re nice… It’s a joy!” So spoke Nicolas Sarkozy… of his two dogs, during an interview with his wife Carla Bruni for Current wife in 2009. The conversation turned to them as soon as the president poked his head into the living room where the meeting was taking place. But this “happiness” could be slightly turbulent: the adorable Clara and Dumbledore have damaged historic furniture in the Elysée’s Silver Salon.
“There has been damage done by dogs, which have bitten their teeth on the armrests in the shape of a swan’s beak… The tapestries are damaged, the sculptures, the wood, the braid… basically, everything needs to be restored .”
Mathilde Mathieu, journalist at Mediapart who made this episode publicto “Further investigation”
The restoration amounts to thousands of euros – paid by the taxpayer, because we do not send an invoice to the tenant of the Elysée. This incident “says a lot about the relationship to the Republic, to the commons… basically, to the heritage, too, of this country, because there was a precedent”, as Mediapart journalist Mathilde Mathieu recalls.
“When Nicolas Sarkozy was at the Ministry of the Interior, there is also a sofa which had landed for restoration at the Mobilier, and which had been, at the time, damaged, because there was dog hair, it there was urine… It’s ‘after me the deluge’!”
Matilda Mathieu
to “Further investigation”
When heritage furniture is degraded, it is returned to the Mobilier national restoration workshops to be repaired. The restaurateurs remember it very well. They know that“at the Elysée, dogs have always been more or less used to wandering around the rooms”and “unfortunately, there are accidents…”.
And since the mandate of Nicolas Sarkozy, accidents, there have been others… As during this meeting between Emmanuel Macron and three members of the government, in 2017: Nemo, the president’s labrador, suddenly raises his paw against a fireplace – “totally unusual behavior”, assures his master – arousing the hilarity of the assembly.
Excerpt from “State heritage: where have the jewels of the Republic gone?”, a document to see in “Complementary investigation” on October 6, 2022.
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