Chateau Chantilly

Well today was epic, we went on a day trip to the town of Chantilly on the train and walked from the train station to the Chateau. (It rained today as well as a little thunder storm)

The Chantilly estate began in 1484 when Chantilly came into the possession of the Montmorency family. The first mansion was built in 1528-1531 for the Constable Anne de Montmorency. The Petit Château was also built for him, around 1560. We went through the Petit Château on a guided tour.

The Château is actually made up of two châteaux (yes that is the plural) that join together, the 15th-century Petit Château and the 19th-century Grand Château. They house the Musée Condé, featuring the Duc d’Aumale’s beautifully decorated private apartments and a fabulous collection of old master paintings and rare books that are probably second only to the Louvre.

The Château was a very popular place to visit and the separate building in front is actually additional accommodation built for all the extra guests.

The early owners were the Condé family which was related to the King of France so had enormous wealth and built the home to compete with the grandeur of Versailles. The most significant part of the estate is the stables for 240 horses and 400 hounds. The stables are enormous and are actually many times larger than the Château. Then there is also the race track which is still a regular part of the racing scene.

The Grand Château was destroyed by the Patriots of the French Revolution (by selling the stone) and entirely rebuilt in 1875-1881 by Henri d'Orléans. In the end, the Duke d'Aumale (Henri d'Orléans) bequeathed the property to the Institute de France upon his death in 1897.

That is the end of the history lesson but it certainly puts into perspective the history surrounding this Chateau. As you will see by the picture the stables are bigger than the Chateau and that’s because one of the Duke’s believed in reincarnation and that he was coming back as a horse and would need somewhere very nice to live.

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Part of trip: Euro 09

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