6.1. DOES LOUIS NEED ANOTHER PALACE?

THE MONARCHY POSSESSES A DOZEN CHATEAUX SURROUND PARIS, WHICH HAVE FORESTS, WATER AND TOWNS

Saint-Cloud, Fontainebleau, Compiègne are the most well-known.

The Château of Saint-Cloud by Etienne Allegrain, toward 1676

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 Saint-Germain was actually two palaces.

Zoom

The newest, finished by Louis's grandfather Henri IV, had four leagues (about 10 miles) of terraces to admire the view of the river.

• Chateau-Vieux, a medieval castle transformed in Renaissance style by Francis I (toward 1530):

VIEW OF THE OLD CHATEAU OF SAINT-GERMAIN-EN-LAYE / The chateau when ,Louis left Saint-Germain for Versailles (1682) / zoom

Zoom

Zoom

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• Chateau-Neuf: Building begins in the 16th century, is halted by civil war and finished in the early 17th.

Gone from the web.

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

Chateau-Neuf in 1637 / zoom 

By Israel Sylvestre / zoom

Gardens of 1680, reconstituted / zoom

The property is demolished during the Revolution, its lands rented out and its raw materials sold.

 

Louis XIV has the gardens redrawn in 1680,

although he plans to transfer

government and court to Versailles in 1682.

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Next,

6.2.

The Versailles enigma