Originally built as a medieval fortress, it has been enlarged, embellished, destroyed and rebuilt... Château de Chantilly has survived the centuries and undergone many transformations! Today, this magnificent estate in theOise region of France is a popular tourist destination forart andhistory enthusiasts.
This princely residence has long been home to the nobles and crowned heads of the Bourbon-Condé family. You can still admire the grand apartments and private suites that served the French princes. But the Château de Chantilly is also famous for its impressive cabinet of books, as well as its magnificently decorated museum.
The estate overlooks a large park with a variety of landscaped gardens, including a formal garden designed by Le Nôtre! The renowned gardener even confided that his work at Chantilly was his favorite. And don't miss the largest princely stables in Europe and the horse museum, which regularly host equestrian shows.
Not familiar with this magnificent estate? Take advantage of the Journées du Patrimoine, on September 16 and 17, 2023, to visit it! Château de Chantilly awaits explorers young and old, with a packed program of events...
Please note that while most of these activities are free of charge, admission to the château is at a special rate of €13.50 for the Journées du Patrimoine. Some events require registration, so it's best to book in advance.
The Chantilly Château Heritage Days program:
Depicted in hunting, portraiture or combat, Jean-Baptiste Oudry's animals are essential references to the animal kingdom in pictures. With their virtuoso brushwork and impeccable technique, they plunge us into the heart of the 18th-century animal repertoire. Scattered after the French Revolution, a cycle of three hunts expressly painted by Oudry for the Château de Chantilly will be exceptionally reunited for this exhibition. The Musée Condé in Chantilly conserves two desks created by one of the greatest French cabinetmakers of all time, André Charles Boulle. For the first time in France, an exhibition will be dedicated to him from June to October 2024, in the Grands Appartements des Princes de Condé at the Château de Chantilly. Trees and books are inextricably linked. In Latin, liber means both book and bark, and since time immemorial, trees and forests have inhabited human imagination and thought. The Logis is a fundamental wing of the Château de Chantilly. In 1875, Henri d'Orléans, Duc d'Aumale (1822-1897), commissioned his architect Honoré Daumet to build a wing on the traditional site of the château's royal dwelling at the time of the Montmorency and Condé families, to the east of the present Galerie de Peinture, to serve as an apartment for his nephew, the Count of Paris, heir to the throne. It was during his second exile (1886-1889), and following the donation of Chantilly to the Institut de France in 1886, that he had this apartment converted into a painting gallery: he added eight rooms and two galleries to his museum to display his increasingly important collections. Since then, many of the Musée Condé's masterpieces have been displayed here (paintings by Fra Angelico, Clouet, Watteau, Largillière, Géricault, Ingres, Delacroix, soft porcelain from Chantilly, a collection of antiques, etc.). Members of the Friends of the Musée Condé will be waiting for you in the Salon d'Orléans to present the major restorations and acquisitions financed by the association. The private apartments of the Duc and Duchesse d'Aumale are located on the first floor of the Petit Château. The Duc d'Aumale had them fitted out in 1845-1848 by the Romantic painter and decorator Eugène Lami shortly after his marriage. The Confrérie des Chevaliers Fouetteurs de Crème Chantilly will be offering visitors to the Château de Chantilly the chance to discover the famous Chantilly cream. This will be an opportunity to sample delicious Chantilly choux pastries or a bowl of Chantilly strawberries. Various products will be on sale. Thanks to the Friends of the Musée Condé, many of the park's sculptures have now been restored, or will be in the near future. From the statue of Constable Anne de Montmorency by Paul Dubois (1886), to the Two Deer in Bronze by Auguste Cain (1890), the busts of the House of Sylvie and the Monument to Prince Henri d'Orléans (after 1901), the tour will take you on a journey of discovery of exceptional works in the gardens, and look at the human and technical resources deployed to ensure the conservation and restoration of this precious heritage. An architectural masterpiece of the 18th century, the Grandes Écuries were built between 1719 and 1735 by architect Jean Aubert (1680-1741) for Louis-Henri de Bourbon (1692-1740), Prince de Condé. As part of the Journées Européennes du Patrimoine (European Heritage Days), take a guided tour of this veritable palace for horses. From the rooftops, you'll be able to admire one of the finest panoramas of Chantilly! In 1900, more than 80,000 horses roamed the streets of Paris, a year marked by the Universal Exhibition and the second Summer Olympic Games. In a Paris crowded with horse-drawn carriages, streetcars, amazons and improvised coachmen, immerse yourself in the hectic day of Madame, an eccentric artist. The tour will take you through the gardens of Château de Chantilly, along the canals of the Nonette valley and to the Pavillon de Manse to discover the incredible hydraulic network used by the Princes of Condé to raise water to supply the fountains of Château de Chantilly. For the first time in France, an exhibition is devoted to one of the greatest French cabinetmakers of all time, André Charles Boulle. The tour will showcase the finest creations of this genius, commissioned by some of the world's most illustrious patrons. The Compagnie équestre du Château de Chantilly offers almost daily equestrian events included in the admission ticket.
September 20 - 22
Following in the footsteps of the Princes de Condé, who commissioned Oudry to paint this cycle in the 18th century, the world's greatest collectors became passionate about his animal scenes. A sensational collection of Oudry's drawings in private hands will be presented alongside the Chantilly collections, revealing to visitors works never before exhibited. Among them, numerous illustrations for La Fontaine's fables show that both fabulist and artist used the animal kingdom to make people laugh or reflect on human nature. Such was the effectiveness of these illustrations that the decorative arts copied them and incorporated them into decorative elements also presented at the Musée Condé. Bringing together paintings, drawings, objets d'art and rare books, this exhibition will shed light on all the facets of the OUDRYMANIA that has captivated art lovers over the centuries.
The Chantilly exhibition has been conceived in partnership with the Château de Fontainebleau, which will be devoting another exhibition to Jean-Baptiste Oudry this autumn, once the Chantilly exhibition has closed. This exhibition will showcase the Château de Fontainebleau's little-known treasures: the preparatory cartoons for the weaving of Louis XV's Hunting wall hanging, including 4 recently restored cartoons. For the first time since the 18th century, they will be presented alongside the tapestries. The exhibition will retrace the artist's creative process, notably through his preparatory drawings, and will evoke the world of hunting in the arts and in the décor of the Château de Fontainebleau, a mecca for royal venery since the 13th century. A symposium on Jean-Baptiste Oudry and animal painting will be organized in conjunction with this exhibition and in partnership with the François Sommer Foundation.
September 20 - 22
The finest creations of this genius, commissioned by the greatest patrons (the King, the Grand Dauphin, the Prince de Condé, the Duchess of Burgundy), will be brought together at the Château de Chantilly to celebrate the excellence of French furniture, whose technique is equalled only by the grace of its forms. The life and long career of André Charles Boulle (1642-1732) are now well known. Both artist and craftsman, the cabinetmaker worked for the Bâtiments du roi for more than fifty years, and with his workshop took on commissions from the royal family and high nobility. He achieved a degree of technical perfection, particularly in metal and tortoiseshell marquetry, which he brought to the highest level.
He was a genius bronzemaker, imposing gilded bronze on furniture and renewing its typologies. He was also an inquisitive collector and a talented draughtsman, keen to promote his work, particularly through engraving. Closely associated with the sumptuousness of French art in the reign of Louis XIV, his fame spread during his lifetime, and has continued to do so ever since.
André Charles Boulle played a central role in the development of French furniture in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Along with the commode, the flat desk was one of his most important creations at the end of Louis XIV's reign. In parallel with the production of six-leg desks and eight-leg lateral pedestal desks, Boulle invented a new type of desk, with a single row of three drawers on the belt, resting on four legs. This flat desk made his name: brass and tortoiseshell marquetry, rich ormolu sconces, slender, arched forms all served to create an elegant piece of furniture, the epitome of power. Numerous examples were produced from the 1710s onwards, culminating in the early years of the Regency. Boulle's formulas were to define the shape of the French flat desk for more than half a century.
September 20 - 22
The Cabinet des livres explores these multiple links woven from the Middle Ages to modern times. Symbols of life, knowledge and freedom, the personified trees of fables, the orchards of poets and lovers, the forests of stories and legends, living resources that are increasingly in short supply, trees contribute to the magic of the Cabinet des livres throughout the summer.
September 21 and 22
September 21 and 22
These are the only princely apartments dating from the July Monarchy that have remained intact. Accessible by guided tour and in small groups only, these living spaces, steeped in memories, are an exclusive testimony to the intimacy of the Duke and Duchess d'Aumale.
Tours at 11am, 2.30pm, 3pm, 4pm and 5pm (45 minutes).
7€ / person (adult / child aged 3 and over) in addition to the 1-day ticket. Accessible only to guided tours and groups of 12 people maximum. Not accessible to people with reduced mobility or strollers.
September 21 and 22
Location: Cour d'honneur of the Château.
September 21 and 22
The tour may be cancelled in the event of adverse weather conditions (rain, thunderstorms).
Limited number of places. Reservations required the same day at the château ticket office.
September 21 and 22
Practical details
This tour requires a good level of fitness and appropriate clothing (practical clothes and sports shoes recommended). It is not recommended for people in poor health (PRM, pregnant women, cardio respiratory diseases). The tour may be cancelled in the event of adverse weather conditions (rain, thunderstorms).
Tickets can be purchased at the château ticket office.
September 21 and 22
A day in Belle Epoque Paris in the life of Madame, punctuated by a host of not-to-be-missed events: shopping, dining, a walk in the woods, the circus and, of course, cabaret!
The horsewomen of the Compagnie Equestre du Château de Chantilly, accompanied by a mime, an aerial acrobat, an acrobat and the horses, donkeys and ponies of the Grandes Ecuries, will transport you into the hectic atmosphere of Paris in 1900.
An intense hour of entertainment in the life of Madame, featuring a wide range of equestrian disciplines under the dome of the Grandes Écuries de Chantilly: carriage driving, reins on the belt, liberty, haute école, acrobatics, acrobatics and equestrian fantasies.
September 21 and 22
Tour organized in partnership with "Chantilly, ville d'art et d'histoire", the Potager des Princes and the Pavillon de Manse.
30 pers max/visit.
Booking essential on s.gillois@ville-chantilly.fr
September 21 and 22
September 21 and 22
During this 30-minute commented presentation, a rider explains the basics of horsemanship and reveals some of the secrets of horse training, from the simplest to the most sophisticated exercises, such as those known as "haute-école". A second rider then offers a commented rehearsal of a show number, with music.
And for other châteaux to discover during the Journées du Patrimoine, check out our special offers.
Dates and Opening Time
From September 16, 2023 to September 17, 2023
Location
Chantilly Castle
Château de Chantilly
60500 Chantilly
Prices
Tarif journées du Patrimoine: €13.5
Recommended age
For all
Official website
chateaudechantilly.fr
