The château of Chantilly

Résumé du livre

The Château of Chantilly stands on a rock above the water and boasts an ensemble of 14th to 19th century monuments. The Petit Château, built by Jean Bullant around 1560, houses the apartments of the Princes of Condé (17th and 18th centuries) and the Grand Château was built between 1875 and 1885 by Daumet for the son of Louis-Philippe, Henri d'Orléans, Duke of Aumale (1822-1897), who bequeathed Chantilly to the Institut de France in 1886. The Condé Museum houses an exceptional collection of paintings arranged according to the 19th century layout (including Raphael, Clouet, Poussin, Nattier, Watteau, Ingres and Delacroix), and an impressive library containing works such as the Book of Hours of the Duke of Berry (15th century) and Jean Fouquet's forty miniatures.

Chantilly has extensive grounds which were designed for the Great Condé by Le Nôtre in the late 17th century. It also features an 18th century Anglo-Chinese garden set around the five remaining cottages of the Hamlet (1774) and an English garden.