Chateau de Chantilly

Overview

Location: Chantilly, France, Europe

The Château de Chantilly’s collection of historical paintings (before 1850) is, after the Louvre Museum in Paris, the largest in France.

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Chateau de Chantilly

On the official World Monuments Fund Watch List: 1998, 2002

The Château de Chantilly sits at the confluence of the Oise and Seine Rivers in the town of Chantilly in northern France and is a magnificent stone complex surrounded by manicured lawns, farms, ponds, and stables. In 1560, architect Jean Bullant designed the 7,800-hectare (19,274-acre) estate of the high constable Anne de Montmorency, a member of François I’s court. André Le Nôtre, the landscape artist for Versailles, planned a 109-hectare (270-acre) portion of the grounds. The Condé family, cousins of Louis XV and Louis XVI, acquired the property in the late 18^th century. Sauver Le Conte’s paintings of the great Condé victories (1643–1674) remain on view in the royal apartments, the Galerie des Actions de Monsieur le Prince. During the French Revolution, the Renaissance château functioned as a prison and its artwork was relocated to the Louvre. Its main wing was destroyed in 1799 and rebuilt by the last individual owner, the Duc d’Aumale, who bequeathed it to the Institut de France in 1886. The Château de Chantilly now houses the extensive collection of the Musée Condé.

The Château de Chantilly is an architectural marvel and represents a grand vision for an estate of the period. The stables, adorned with statuary, were built to hold 240 horses and 300 hunting dogs as well as grooms and equipment. Chippendale woodwork appears in multiple rooms in the Clinchamp wing because the Duc d’Aumale was a great lover of British art and style. The Musée Condé possesses an incredible collection of old master paintings that rivals many of the greatest museum collections and includes works by Sassetta, Raphael, and Botticelli. An extensive library boasts of 30,000 volumes and valuable manuscripts, including a Gutenberg Bible and Les Trés Riches Heures du Duc de Berry. Visitors to Chantilly experience a strong sense of its original ambience because the high quality of the gardens, buildings, stables, collections, and interior finishes remains intact.