Château de Chantilly

Day trip from Paris

This historic château, located in the town of Chantilly, comprises two attached buildings; the Grand Château, destroyed during the French Revolution and rebuilt in the 1870s, and the Petit Château which was built around 1560 for Anne de Montmorency.

The château's art gallery, the Musée Condé, houses one of the finest collections of historical paintings in France (after the Louvre), with special strength in French paintings and book illuminations of the 15th and 16th centuries. The centerpiece of the art gallery is the Tribune Room, featuring Sassetta's Mystic Marriage of Saint Francis, Botticelli's Autumn, Piero di Cosimo's Simonetta Vespucci, and Pierre Mignard's Portrait of Molière, among many other masterpieces. The library of the Petit Château contains over 700 manuscripts and 12,000 volumes, including a Gutenberg Bible, and some 760 manuscripts, with Les très riches heures du Duc de Berry and 40 miniatures from Jean Fouquet's Book of Hours of Etienne Chevalier. 

The park, featuring extensive water features, was laid out by famous landscaper André Le Nôtre for the Grand Condé. It also contains an English garden with cascade, and a number of pavilion buildings.

The estate overlooks the Chantilly Racecourse and the Grandes Écuries (Great Stables), which contains the Living Museum of the Horse. According to legend, Louis Henri, Duc de Bourbon, Prince of Condé believed that he would be reincarnated as a horse after his death. In 1719, he asked the architect, Jean Aubert to build stables suitable to his rank.

Getting to Chantilly by train

Paris-Chantilly : From the Gare du Nord SNCF Grandes lignes (24 minutes) , From Châtelet les Halles RER line D (45 minutes)

From Chantilly Station to the Château Taxi from the station (cost: about €8) : 5 minutes
Le DUC (Desserte Urbaine Cantilienne), Chantilly's town free bus, depart from the bus station, stop at église Notre-Dame.

For more information and opening hours visit www.chateaudechantilly.com ,  town of Chantilly www.ville-chantilly.fr  and www.chantilly-tourisme.com


Not far away from Chantilly

Senlis

The royal city of Senlis  offer a 2000 years of exceptional history and heritage.

Getting there

By car - 40 km to the North of Paris - RN 17 and 324 N/S - RN 330 O/E - A1 Motorway, exit No 8 towards the North and Belgium/England.

By Train - from Gare du Nord SNCF grandes lignes (24 minutes), from Châtelet-Les Halles RER ligne D (45 minutes) stop Chantilly-Gouvieux. Consult the timetables at the site: www.ter-sncf.com

Taxis from the train station aprox 8 € for 5 min journey

More Info on www.senlis-tourisme.fr

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