Fontainebleau wonders

Fontainebleau is not just one monarch’s palace, it belonged to them all, a “family home” for the kings of France, passed down from generation to generation from the Middle Ages to the 19^th century.

Fontainebleau is the only CASTLE inhabited by all the sovereigns from the 12^th to the 19^th century, and the most furnished of the French royal castles. With over 1,500 rooms, it features Renaissance masterpieces commissioned by Francis I, the lavishly decorated interiors of Marie Antoinette, the state apartment of Napoleon I, the styles preferred by Napoleon III and Eugenie… A royal residence for hunting and getting away from it all, it tells us all about the monarchs’ official and intimate court life.

Sitting in a 130 hectare estate, the various buildings forming the château are spread over four main courtyards, 3 GARDENS AND A PARK . The astonishingly diverse range of shapes, colours and buildings, reflecting the tastes of the different eras in which they were built, made an English visitor declare that Fontainebleau was like visiting a “host of palaces”. The harmony which nevertheless emerges from this collection is the result of the monarchs’ desire to continue along the same lines as their predecessors. This succession of architectural styles unfolds throughout the gardens, which were completely redesigned during the 19^th century: the Diana garden and the English garden were designed in the style of English landscape gardens. The classical Grand Parterre by André Le Nôtre (1660-1664), with its 14 hectares of French-style formal gardens, offers a totally different experience in terms of space and perspectives. It extends, beyond the Bassin des Cascades, with a long park that Henri IV’s grand canal cuts through for its entire length.

« A leader is a dealer in hope » – Napoleon Bonaparte