As you drive slowly down the main street of the town of Chantilly, immediately after passing the impressive stables, you will discover a fairy-tale-like structure behind the bend in the road. It is a strange-looking castle and different from most of the castles you have seen. It may remind you of a kind of fluffy layer cake separated by layers of particularly airy and sweet whipped cream. This is the Chateau de Chantilly and this is its story.
A little note before we start: The name of the castle is pronounced in French as Chantilly or Chant-y. However, since most people search for Chantilly online, I decided to use this name. Of course, all those who say that this is not how the name is pronounced are right, but the French call their capital Peri while we call it Paris So there is already a precedent for this 🙂
The history of Chantilly Castle
Château de Chantilly, located about 50 km north of Paris, has an ancient history. Originally, the castle actually consisted of two castles. The larger one was built in 1531 on the ruins of a medieval fortress by the architect Pierre Chambij for Anne de Montmorency, who was close to the court of King Francis I (his statue on horseback stands proudly in the square in front of the castle entrance). The smaller castle was built about 30 years later by the architect Jean Boulain. Unfortunately, what has survived to this day are the foundations, the moat, the gardens and the outbuildings. We will talk about all of them in a moment.
In 1632, after the death of Henri II de Montmorency, it passed to his nephew, one of the talented and brave generals at the court of Louis XIV – Louis II de Bourbon-Condé, known as the Grand Condé Le. It is no wonder that the person who designed the gardens of the Château de Chantilly was none other than the renowned garden architect of the Palace of Versailles André Le Nôtre. The person who decorated the walls of the Château de Chantilly was none other than the painter of the Palace of Versailles, Charles Le Brun, who painted the ceiling of the famous Hall of Mirrors. Even the king's architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart designed one important room there.
The Cream Castle
Chantilly Castle is full of interesting historical events that span centuries, but for one thing it is most famous, and that is whipped cream, or as it is called in French, crème Chantilly. Legend has it that whipped cream was created by the famous chef François Vatel, but it is very possible that whipped cream was invented even earlier. If that is the case, then in any case he can be given credit for the technique that makes it airy. However, despite being considered the best chef of his time, his end was not at all sweet.
The story began in 1671 when the Prince of Condé decided to throw a party that included about two thousand participants in honor of his cousin King Louis XIV. The party, held between April 14 and 23, included banquets, lavish meals, and hunting trips, but Wattel enjoyed the lavish event less because the burden of responsibility took a heavy mental toll on him.
Legend has it that a chef ordered 10 baskets of shrimp for one of the sauces he was planning to cook. On the day the baskets were supposed to arrive, it turned out that only 8 baskets had arrived. The great chef could not bear the shame of having his sauce diluted, so he went up to his room and stabbed himself with his kitchen knife. The person who discovered his body was a servant who came to tell him that the two lost baskets of shrimp had been found, but they had simply been delayed a little…
In the early 2000s, a film was released starring Gerard Depardieu about the life and death of Vattel, and if you haven't seen it yet, it's highly recommended that you do. In the meantime, you're invited to watch his "coming soon" video:
The 18th century comes to Chantilly
The 18th century began with a period of renewal for the castle. In 1719, the chateau was almost completely rebuilt on its original foundations by the architect Jean Aubert. The chateau was decorated with new and magnificent salons, and later the same architect built the largest stables in Europe. However, all this came to a tragic end during the French Revolution, when the palace was severely damaged.
The transformation of the Château de Chantilly can be seen today in some of the most beautiful rooms in France in the Regency style. This style, named after the period of the curacy of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (during the childhood of Louis XV), refers to the transitional style between the Baroque of Louis XIV and the Rococo of Louis XV and was in fashion from the late 15th century to the early 14s.
The first room in the new style to grace Chantilly was the Gallery of Battles, designed by the royal architect Jules Hardew Mansard for Louis-Henri, Prince de Bourbon-Condé. The gallery presents, in chronological order, 11 important battles in which the Prince of Condé took part.
In the 15s and 16s, several new salons were commissioned by Louis-Henri, Prince of Condé VII, who was a minister at the court of Louis XV; the prince's bedroom, designed by the architect Jean Aubert, the corner study, designed by Jean-Baptiste Sena, and the music room, which is now furnished with furniture commissioned by Louis XVI for the Château de Saint-Cloud.
A special and rare room is the Monkey Room or The Grande Singerie. This room is part of the Chinoiserie fashion (influences of motifs from the Far East, especially China) that was at its peak during the reign of Louis XV. The Singerie rooms presented scenes of noblemen in various activities played by monkeys, a kind of self-humor.
The Monkey Salon at Chantilly, painted by the cartoonist Christophe Huet, is one of the most beautiful and magnificent remaining. In fact, Chantilly is the only château in France to have two such rooms – another room in the style, the Petit Sangerie, is located in the private apartments of the Duc d'Aumelle.
As magnificent as they were, the new salons were not the crowning glory of Chantilly in the 18th century, but the construction of the largest and most magnificent stables in Europe. The stables were built between 1719 and 1735 under the orders of Prince Condé VII and designed by the architect Jean Aubert, who created one of the most beautiful and important buildings in the Louis XV style.
Legend has it that Prince Conde believed himself to be the reincarnation of a horse and therefore placed such great importance on the stables that the casual visitor might mistake them for the palace itself. Whether this is just a legend or he truly believed so, what is known is that he was an avid hunter who kept 240 horses and 150 hunting dogs. From 1833 to the present day, horse races and tournaments have been held at the racecourse adjacent to the stables.
The building boom continued after Louis-Henri's death in 1740 by his successor Louis-Joseph, Prince of Condé. He built the indoor tennis court and the Anglo-Chinese Garden and the Hamlet, which served as a model for the Queen's Hamlet in the Trianon Gardens at Versailles, and even a theater that no longer exists.
But the construction boom stopped with the outbreak of the French Revolution. The Prince of Conde was a staunch opponent of the ideas of the revolution and he left the France and established an army of French immigrants known as the Army of Conde/ The Château de Chantilly was captured by the revolutionaries and turned into a prison and its impressive art collection was transferred to the Louvre, and finally in 1799 the château was destroyed. Part of the area on which it stood was divided into plots on which the houses of the town of Chantilly are now built.
Like a Phoenix – The Resurgence of Château de Chantilly in the 19th Century
In 1815, the Prince of Condé returned to Chantilly after a long exile, thanks to the dismissal of Napoleon I and the return of the Bourbon dynasty. He regained possession of the château (or what remained of it) and part of the collection confiscated during the revolution. He spent the last years of his life renovating and restoring what remained of the manor buildings.
Louis Joseph's successor – Louis VI Henri de Bourbon-Condé, the last Prince of Condé, was left childless after his son, Louis Antoine, Duke of Enghien, was executed by Napoleon on charges of aiding the British against France.
The château was therefore inherited by King Louis Philippe's eight-year-old son, Henri d'Orléans, Duke d'Aumale. The Duke of Aumale, who inherited a large fortune, devoted his adult life to rebuilding the château and turning it into one of the museums with the largest and most impressive collections in France.
As an adult, the Duke d'Aumelle developed an impressive military career and was even governor of Algiers for a short period. During this time, he renovated and adapted the small château to his needs and planned to rebuild the large château, but these plans were halted with the fall of the July Monarchy and the return of the Napoleonic family to power.
This forced him into a long exile in England, where he became an avid collector of writings, paintings, and decorative arts. He amassed an impressive collection that he planned to one day exhibit at Chantilly. And so in 1871, with the fall of Napoleon III, the Duke d'Aumelle returned with his vast art collection to Chantilly to write the final chapter in its fascinating story.
From ruin to one of the most important museums in France
When the Duke d'Aumell returned to Chantilly, he was already a widower and had lost both of his sons. Since he had no one left to inherit Chantilly, he built it with the intention of it becoming a museum after his death. He hired the services of the architect Honoré Dumo to design the building. Honoré built Chantilly in the Neo-Renaissance style on the foundations of the old 14th-century chateau.
He united it with the small chateau which survived the revolution but was destroyed and rebuilt to form an integral part of the structure. Since Chantilly was built on the foundations of two ancient castles, the architect was forced to adapt his plan to these foundations, which created a castle with a somewhat strange shape and at times difficult to navigate.
The interior of the building is divided into two large wings, with the Oval Guard Room serving as the connecting axis between the two. On one side, you can find the large wing with the magnificent salons from the Regency period, which are located in the area where the large castle once stood. On the other side, there is the Conde Museum, which is located in the area of the small castle. The museum includes a library with about 2,500 rare manuscripts and engravings, and galleries that display an impressive collection of about 1,000 paintings and 2,500 drawings, as well as rooms with changing exhibitions.
The castle, which is entered from a high level, hides beneath it the private apartments of the Duke d'Aumelle, which were built in the 19th century in the neo-rococo style. The only room from the 18th century in this wing is the small sanctuary, which, like the large sanctuary (located in the main wing), also has walls painted by the caricaturist Christophe Oue. These rooms, which are entered from two private galleries, have been recently renovated.
Adjacent to the chateau is the castle chapel, dedicated to Saint Louis. It was built in 1882 by the same architect and designed based on the chapel of the Château d'Aquais. Stained glass windows and other original elements from this chapel were incorporated into the Chantilly chapel.
Upon the return of the Duc d'Aumelle to Chantilly, he assumed many public roles such as head of the Oise regional council, member of the Institut de France, the French Academy, the Academy of Fine Arts and the Academy of Moral and Political Science. It was therefore only natural that he would bequeath Chantilly and the Condé Museum to the Institut.
In May 1897, while on vacation at his vacation home in Sicily, the Duke died, and about a year later, in April 1898, the Château de Chantilly and the Conde Museum opened, and today it looks and is organized exactly as it was when the Duke died, and this is according to his explicit instructions.
What to see in Chantilly
Every visit should begin with the grand salons, their splendor is a feast for the eyes and perhaps that is why many films have been filmed there to this day. Here are some examples:
From there, it is advisable to continue to the Conde Museum to see the paintings, illustrations and sculptures, the manuscripts and the many engravings. Afterwards, it is recommended to go down the magnificent stairs to the lower floor. There you can book a guided tour (in French only) of the private wing of the Duc d'Aumelle, which is on the same floor. While you are waiting, you can sit in the chateau's café and restaurant to have something to eat and perhaps also taste a quality Chantilly cream.
After the tour inside the chateau, you can head out to the beautiful gardens of La Notre, stroll along the English Garden, visit the Temple of Venus (which is very similar to the one found in the Petit Trianon in Versailles), then stop and admire the sculpted Pleiades de Beauvais, and finally stop at the Hamlet, where there is a series of garden buildings that resemble simple village houses on the outside but are adapted to the comfort typical of 18th-century nobility on the inside.
And if you have more time or as an alternative to a long visit to the gardens, you can cross the road to the large stables, where there is a museum of equestrian arts and horses. You can also see the horses in their stables and go in to see a live show of artistic riding.
If you didn't get to taste Chantilly cream at the castle, then on the town's main street you can find places that serve it, one of which proudly bears the name Vattel.
The best of Chantilly
Within the entire impressive collection, there are several works of art and several items that deserve special attention:
● 'The Very Rich Hours of the Duke of Berry' (Très Riches Heures of duc de Berry) is an illuminated manuscript from the 15th century and is considered a rare masterpiece that can be seen in the castle library.
● The painting The Three Graces by Raphael from 1505 is in the picture gallery and, although it is the smallest painting in the Conde Museum, it is also the most important.
● A chest of drawers built in 1775 by the king's carpenter Jean-Henri Reisner for Louis XVI and was located in Versailles and is now in the castle's bedroom.
● A writing desk originally made for Chantilly by the king's carpenter André Charles Boulle in 1715, which is now in the Music Salon.
In addition, there are many other manuscripts, paintings, and furniture that are important and rare today.
Tickets to Chantilly Castle and other important information
Tickets to the castle or a guided tour (which includes transportation from the hotel and back, guidance, and a 3-course meal) can be found in the article. A day outside Paris (And along the way, learn about other castles that are within an hour's drive of Paris).
Opening Hours
- Sunday-Saturday: 10: 00-18: 00
- Monday and Tuesday: Closed
How to get there?
Getting to the town of Chantilly by train is easy and fast, trains depart from Gare du Nord station and arrive at Chantilly-Gubbio. The first and faster option is by SNCF train (www.ter.sncf.com/hauts-de-france) which departs every 25 minutes, the second option is by RER suburban train (www.transilien.com) line D) which departs every 45 minutes.
From the train station you can take the DUC (Cantilian Urban Service) bus or line 15 to Senlis, get off at Chantilly, église Notre-Dame. You can also walk through the lovely town, a 25-minute walk.
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