- FRANCE - PART ONE -

Fontainebleau : Part 2

LINKS to other pages in the FRANCE PART ONE site and to the Colin Day Travelling Days series:

The ornementation in the Chapel of the Trinity (left and below) dates from the first half of the 17th century. It is here that Louis XV married Marie Leczinska in 1725 and Napoleon III was baptised in 1810.

After the Revolution, Napoleon (1769-1821) found the palace completely devoid of furnishings. The entire palace was refurbished, first to receive the Pope, who had come to crown him in 1804, and later to make Fontainebleau into one of his favorite residences.

The throne room is the most spectacular room in the apartment, with silks and brocades enriched with precious gold decoration and Neoclassical symbols. Napoleon, speaking during his last exile at St. Helena, spoke fondly of Fontainebleau, "Here was a true home of kings, the best furnished and most happily situated ancient house in Europe".

The François 1 Gallery measures 30 metres in length and is 10 metres wide. It lies between the oval court and the gardens. The frescos were painted about 1550 by a team directed by Nicolo dell' Abbate. After the king died, the architect Philibert Delorme was directed by Henri II to continue the embellishment of the castle. His major contribution was the Italianate box ceiling.