Sights in Fontainebleau
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Château de Fontainebleau
The enormous, 1900-room Château de Fontainebleau, whose list of former tenants and their guests reads like a who's who of French royalty and aristocrats, is one of the most beautifully decorated and furnished châteaux in France. Every square centimetre of wall and ceiling space is richly adorned with wood panelling, gilded carvings, frescos, tapestries and paintings. The parquet floors are of the finest woods, the fireplaces are ornamented with exceptional carvings, and many pieces of furniture date back to the Renaissance era.
The first château on this site was built in the early 12th century and enlarged by Louis IX a century later. Only a single medieval tower survive…
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Forêt de Fontainebleau
This 20,000-hectare Forêt de Fontainebleau, which begins 500m south of the chateau and surrounds the town, is one of the prettiest woods in the region. The many trails - including parts of the GR1 and GR11 - are excellent for jogging, walking, cycling, horse riding and climbing. The area is covered by IGN's 1:25,000-scale Forêt de Fontainebleau map. The tourist office sells the Guide des Sentiers de Promenades dans le Massif Forestier de Fontainebleau, whose maps and text (in French) cover almost 20 walks in the forest, as well as the comprehensive La Forêt de Fontainebleau, published by the Office National des Forêts, with almost three dozen walks.
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Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte Fountain Displays
Visitors swoon over the beautifully furnished Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte's interior, including its fabulous dome. In the vaulted cellars an exhibition looks at Le Nôtre’s landscaping of the formal gardens, where there are elaborate fountain displays in season. The collection of 18th- and 19th-century carriages in the château stables, included in the château visit, forms the Musée des Équipages (Carriage Museum). At weekends and school holidays, rent prince, princess or musketeer costumes for the kids (aged four to 12) to prance around in. Fun seasonal events include Easter-egg hunts.
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Musée Napoléonien d’Art et d’Histoire Militaire
The Petits Appartements (Small Apartments) were the private apartments of the emperor Napolean and empress Josephine; the Musée Napoléon 1er (Napoleon I Museum) contains uniforms, hats, coats, ornamental swords and knick-knacks that belonged to Napoleon and his relatives. True aficionados can get a second dose of him at the town’s Musée Napoléonien d’Art et d’Histoire Militaire, six rooms of military uniforms and weapons in the 19th-century Villa Lavaurs in town.
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Chapelle de la Trinité
The spectacular Chapelle de la Trinité, whose ornamentation dates from the first half of the 17th century, is where Louis XV married Marie Leczinska in 1725 and where the future Napoleon III was christened in 1810. Galerie François 1er, a jewellery box of Renaissance architecture, was decorated from 1533 to 1540 by Il Rosso, a Florentine follower of Michelangelo. In the wood panelling, François I's monogram appears repeatedly along with his emblem, a dragon-like salamander.
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chateau gardens
The chateau gardens are quite extraordinary. On the northern side of the chateau is the Jardin de Diane, a formal garden created by Catherine de Médicis. Le Nôtre's formal, 17th-century Jardin Français (French Garden), or Grand Parterre, is east of the Cour de la Fontaine (Fountain Courtyard) and the Étang des Carpes (Carp Pond).
The informal Jardin Anglais (English Garden), laid out in 1812, is west of the pond (closes one hour before the other gardens).
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Musée Napoléon I
The Petits Appartements were the private rooms of the emperor and empress, and the Musée Napoléon 1er contains personal effects - such as uniforms, hats, coats, ornamental swords - and knick-knacks that belonged to Napoleon and his relatives. Neither has fixed opening hours and a one-hour guided tour is an additional cost.
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Cour du Cheval Blanc
The largest courtyard is the Cour du Cheval Blanc, from where you enter the chateau. Napoleon, about to be exiled to Elba in 1814, bade farewell to his guards from the magnificent 17th-century double-horseshoe staircase here. For that reason the courtyard is also called the Cour des Adieux (Farewell Courtyard).
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Cour Ovale
As successive monarchs added their own wings to the chateau, five irregularly shaped courtyards were created. The oldest and most interesting is the Cour Ovale, no longer oval but U-shaped due to Henri IV's construction work. It incorporates the keep, the sole remnant of the medieval chateau.
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Salle de Bal
The Salle de Bal, a 30m-long ballroom dating from the mid-16th century that was also used for receptions and banquets, is renowned for its mythological frescoes, marquetry floor and Italian-inspired coffered ceiling. Large windows afford views of the Cour Ovale and the gardens.
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Petits Appartements
The Petits Appartements were the private rooms of the emperor and empress, and the Musée Napoléon 1er (Napoleon I Museum) contains personal effects - such as uniforms, hats, coats, ornamental swords - and knick-knacks that belonged to Napoleon and his relatives.
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Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte
Privately owned Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte and its magnificent French-styled gardens, 20km north of Fontainebleau, were designed and built as a precursor to Versailles by Le Brun, Le Vau and Le Nôtre between 1656 and 1661.
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Musée National des Prisons
Fontainebleau’s Musée National des Prisons is a gruesome portrait of French prisons from the 17th century to the present in a magnificent 19th-century prison with 30 cells.
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Grands Appartements
The Grands Appartements inside the Château de Fontainebleau include a number of outstanding rooms.
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Centre Sportif d’Equitation Militaire
This is where mounted French army officers and 50 military horses are trained each year.
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