Letter discovered in Louis XV desk at Versailles

This undated photo provided Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2012 by the Chateau de Versailles shows desk that belonged to France's 18th century King Louis XV . For 67 years, a message from Nazi-occupied France remained hidden in a secret drawer of the desk. The letter, released Tuesday by the Chateau of Versailles, details restoration work on the desk during the war. The restorer says he wrote the note as he finished the work _ and just as Paris was being liberated from the Nazis in 1944. (AP Photo/Christian Milet; Chateau de Versailles) NO SALES

This undated photo provided Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2012 by the Chateau de Versailles shows desk that belonged to France's 18th century King Louis XV . For 67 years, a message from Nazi-occupied France remained hidden in a secret drawer of the desk. The letter, released Tuesday by the Chateau of Versailles, details restoration work on the desk during the war. The restorer says he wrote the note as he finished the work _ and just as Paris was being liberated from the Nazis in 1944. (AP Photo/Christian Milet; Chateau de Versailles) NO SALES

This undated photo provided Tuesday, Jan.10, 2012 by the Chateau de Versailles shows a letter, hidden for 67 years, which was found in a secret drawer of a desk that belonged to France's 18th century King Louis XV . The letter, released Tuesday by the Chateau of Versailles, details restoration work on the desk during the war. The restorer says he wrote the note as he finished the work _ and just as Paris was being liberated from the Nazis in 1944. (AP Photo/Chateau de Versailles) NO SALES

PARIS (AP) ? For 67 years, a message from Nazi-occupied France remained hidden in a secret drawer of a desk that belonged to France's 18th century King Louis XV.

Restorers at the Chateau of Versailles recently discovered the letter, written by a World War II-era colleague who last restored the bronze-coated bureau.

The letter, released Tuesday by the chateau, details restoration work on the desk during the war. The restorer says he wrote the note after he finished the work ? just as Paris was being liberated from the Nazis in August 1944.

The letter was found in one of the desk's many small drawers, which can be opened only by a complex mechanical system of secret buttons and locks considered cutting-edge in its day.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-01-10-EU-France-Versailles-Discovery/id-f6b8a4889e4c420886f103e0158dfd85

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