Versailles, France: A fire broke out at France's Palace of Versailles on Tuesday, prompting a brief evacuation but causing no casualties or damage to its collections, spokespeople for the world-famous monument and firefighters said.
A fire broke out at a construction site near the roof of the main building, which was quickly extinguished "with a bucket of water", firefighters said.
Nearly 100 firefighters were mobilized and teams remained on site to prevent any new fires.
The chateau was evacuated as a security measure, the palace's spokespeople said.
The castle and gardens reopened Tuesday afternoon, the official account of the Palace of Versailles said on X (formerly Twitter), stressing that "the incident was quickly brought under control".
The Palace of Versailles, the third most visited site in France, behind Disneyland Paris and the Louvre Museum, welcomed 8.1 million visitors in 2023, most of them foreigners.
The historic monument is due to host the equestrian events at the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer.
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