La Galerie de la Belle au Bois Dormant

La Galerie de la Belle au Bois Dormant
Park	Disneyland Park (Paris)
Land / area	Fantasyland
Type	Walk-through gallery
Opened	March 20, 1993
Designer	Walt Disney Imagineering
Status	Operating

La Galerie de la Belle au Bois Dormant (French for "The Gallery of the Sleeping Beauty") is a walk-through gallery on the upper floor of Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant, the Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland Park (Paris) in Disneyland Paris. Reached by a curving staircase inside the castle, it retells the story of Princess Aurora from Disney's 1959 film Sleeping Beauty in a sequence of stained-glass windows, woven tapestries and illuminated storybooks, and ends at a balcony overlooking Fantasyland. It is one of two attractions inside the castle, the other being La Tanière du Dragon in the dungeon below.

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History

The castle itself opened with the park — then called Euro Disneyland — on April 12, 1992, but the gallery did not. The park's first year was successful enough that Disneyland Paris launched a broad programme of additions to increase capacity, and the gallery was created as part of that programme to complete the castle visit by opening its upper floor to guests. La Galerie de la Belle au Bois Dormant opened on March 20, 1993, just under a year after the park. Because the castle predates it, some guidebooks list the gallery with the castle's 1992 opening date; Disneyland Paris's own anniversary account gives March 20, 1993.

The gallery was conceived as a showcase of traditional craftsmanship rather than ride technology. Its nine stained-glass windows were designed by Paul Chapman, a master glazier who had been stained-glass artisan to the Queen of England and had taken part in restoring the windows of Notre-Dame de Paris; in his eighties, he came out of retirement to work on the project. The windows were made by hand in London by craftsmen known for restoring historic cathedrals and châteaux.

Experience

Guests climb the castle's curving stairs to the first-floor gallery and follow Aurora's story in order, from her birth and christening through the fairies' gifts, the curse, the spinning wheel and the prince's kiss. The story is carried by three media used in turn: the nine stained-glass windows, nine tapestries, and a set of seven oversized storybooks displayed on podiums, hand-painted in the manner of medieval illuminated manuscripts.

The tapestries were woven in wool and silk by craftsmen of Aubusson in the Creuse region of central France, a town whose tapestry workshops have been renowned for centuries. Among the stained glass, an oval window in the main chamber carries two images at once — a rose for beauty and two doves for song, the gifts of the fairies — which change with the viewing angle and the light. Two suits of armour in the gallery are fitted with snoring guards, a small joke carried over from the film. The walk ends on the castle balcony, with a panoramic view over Fantasyland and the castle courtyard, where the sword Excalibur stands in its anvil below. Most guests take about fifteen minutes to explore the gallery, and a lift at the rear of the Merlin l'Enchanteur shop provides step-free access to the mezzanine level.

See also

• Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant
• La Tanière du Dragon
• Disneyland Park (Paris)
• List of Disneyland Park (Paris) attractions