THE MONARCHY'S STRING OF PALACES NEAR PARIS

THEY HAVE FORESTS, WATER AND TOWNS

Saint-Germain was actually two palaces. That newest, finished by Louis's grandfather Henri IV, had four leagues* of terraces to admire the spectacular view.

*"League": the distance covered in an hour's walk. The four leagues are of the great historian, Jules Michelet.

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Chateau-Vieux, a medieval castle transformed in Renaissance style by Francis I:

(Toward 1530)

View of the Old Château of Saint-Germain en Laye / At the time that Louis left Saint-Germain for Versailles (1682) / zoom

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It towers over town and river.

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View from a terrace now.

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Chateau-Neuf:

• Building begins in the 16th century, is halted by civil war, finished in the early 17th century under powerful monarchy.

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 Drawing in the archives / zoom 

Chateau-Neuf of Saint-Germain in 1637

By Israel Sylvestre / zoom

 View of Château-Neuf in the mid-17th century

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Gardens of 1680, reconstituted 

Gone from the web.

Chateau neuf seen from the Paris bank, 17th and 18th centuries.

•  Louis XVI gives to one of his brothers with funds for renovation. When the property is confiscated during the Revolution, it is demolished, its lands rented out and its raw materials sold.

Louis XIV has the gardens redrawn (in 1680),

in the midst of planning to transfer

government and court to Versailles (in 1682).

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Next,

Waterless Versailles