Neoclassical structure
Courtyard of Château de Compiègne, Compiègne, Hauts-de-France, France
Some background information:
Château de Compiègne is a French royal residence built for Louis XV and restored by Napoleon Bonaparte. It is located in the town of Compiègne in the department of Oise, about 80 km (50 miles) north of Paris, where the river Aisne flows in the river Oise.
The extensive residence used to be the third most important ruler’s palace in France, after Versailles and Fontainebleau. From the 6th to the 11th century, its predecessor buildings were already the preferred residence of the Merovingian and Carlovingian kings.
However, the first French royal residence was built in 1374 for King Charles V. A long procession of successors both visited it and modified it. In those days Compiègne was the summer residence of French monarchs, primarily for reasons of hunting in the adjoining Compiègne Forest. King Louis XIV, the "Sun King", resided in Compiègne some 75 times and King Louis XV was perhaps even more favorably impressed. The Comte de Chevergny described his proclivity for the château: "Hunting was his main passion... and Compiègne, with its immense forest, with its endless avenues amongst the trees, with its stretches down which you could ride all day and never come to the end, was the ideal place to indulge that passion."
In 1750, prominent architect Ange-Jacques Gabriel proposed a thorough renovation of the chateau. Work began in 1751 and was finished in 1788 by Gabriel's student Le Dreux de La Châtre. The ancient town ramparts dictated the château's triangular plan. The resultant building covers about 20,000 square metres (five acres). It is neoclassical in style, with simplicity and clarity governing both its external and interior features.
During the French Revolution, the palace passed into the jurisdiction of the Minister for the Interior. In 1795, it was essentially gutted: All furniture was sold and its works of art were sent to the Muséum Central in Paris, today known as the Musée du Louvre. Napoleon Bonaparte visited Château de Compiègne in 1799 and again in 1803. In 1804 the château became an imperial domain and in 1807 he ordered it be made habitable again. Architects Berthault, Percier and Fontaine, decorators Dubois and Redouté, and cabinetmakers Jacob-Desmalter and Marcion restored the château. Its layout was altered, a ballroom added, and the garden was replanted and linked directly to the forest.
The result is an example of First French Empire style (1808 to 1810), though some traces of the earlier décor have survived too. The novelist Auguste Luchet wrote that "Compiègne speaks of Napoleon as Versailles does of Louis XIV". From 1856 on, Emperor Napoleon III and his wife Eugénie made it their autumn residence, and redecorated some rooms in the Second Empire style.
Today Château de Compiègne is open to the public. Visitors can find three distinct museums within the chateau: the apartments themselves, the Museum of the Second Empire and the National Car Museum, founded in 1927, with a collection of carriages, bicycles, and automobiles.
With its more than 40,000 residents, Compiègne is the subprefecture of the arrondissement Compiègne. It is a beautiful little town with two main sights: Château de Compiègne and the Glade of the Armistice in the Compiègne Forest. The Glade of the Armistice was the site of the signing of two armistices: the 1918 Armistice with Germany and the 1940 Armistice with France. Hitler specifically chose the location, and had the original signing carriage moved from Paris to Compiègne, as a humiliation for the defeated French.
The site still houses several memorials to the 1918 armistice, including a copy of the original railway carriage. The original was moved to Berlin after use in the 1940 armistice, as a trophy of Nazi triumph. The railway carriage was later taken to Crawinkel in Thuringia in 1945, where it was destroyed by SS troops and the remains buried. A replica now replaces it at the original site in the Compiègne Forest.
Neoclassical structure
Courtyard of Château de Compiègne, Compiègne, Hauts-de-France, France
Some background information:
Château de Compiègne is a French royal residence built for Louis XV and restored by Napoleon Bonaparte. It is located in the town of Compiègne in the department of Oise, about 80 km (50 miles) north of Paris, where the river Aisne flows in the river Oise.
The extensive residence used to be the third most important ruler’s palace in France, after Versailles and Fontainebleau. From the 6th to the 11th century, its predecessor buildings were already the preferred residence of the Merovingian and Carlovingian kings.
However, the first French royal residence was built in 1374 for King Charles V. A long procession of successors both visited it and modified it. In those days Compiègne was the summer residence of French monarchs, primarily for reasons of hunting in the adjoining Compiègne Forest. King Louis XIV, the "Sun King", resided in Compiègne some 75 times and King Louis XV was perhaps even more favorably impressed. The Comte de Chevergny described his proclivity for the château: "Hunting was his main passion... and Compiègne, with its immense forest, with its endless avenues amongst the trees, with its stretches down which you could ride all day and never come to the end, was the ideal place to indulge that passion."
In 1750, prominent architect Ange-Jacques Gabriel proposed a thorough renovation of the chateau. Work began in 1751 and was finished in 1788 by Gabriel's student Le Dreux de La Châtre. The ancient town ramparts dictated the château's triangular plan. The resultant building covers about 20,000 square metres (five acres). It is neoclassical in style, with simplicity and clarity governing both its external and interior features.
During the French Revolution, the palace passed into the jurisdiction of the Minister for the Interior. In 1795, it was essentially gutted: All furniture was sold and its works of art were sent to the Muséum Central in Paris, today known as the Musée du Louvre. Napoleon Bonaparte visited Château de Compiègne in 1799 and again in 1803. In 1804 the château became an imperial domain and in 1807 he ordered it be made habitable again. Architects Berthault, Percier and Fontaine, decorators Dubois and Redouté, and cabinetmakers Jacob-Desmalter and Marcion restored the château. Its layout was altered, a ballroom added, and the garden was replanted and linked directly to the forest.
The result is an example of First French Empire style (1808 to 1810), though some traces of the earlier décor have survived too. The novelist Auguste Luchet wrote that "Compiègne speaks of Napoleon as Versailles does of Louis XIV". From 1856 on, Emperor Napoleon III and his wife Eugénie made it their autumn residence, and redecorated some rooms in the Second Empire style.
Today Château de Compiègne is open to the public. Visitors can find three distinct museums within the chateau: the apartments themselves, the Museum of the Second Empire and the National Car Museum, founded in 1927, with a collection of carriages, bicycles, and automobiles.
With its more than 40,000 residents, Compiègne is the subprefecture of the arrondissement Compiègne. It is a beautiful little town with two main sights: Château de Compiègne and the Glade of the Armistice in the Compiègne Forest. The Glade of the Armistice was the site of the signing of two armistices: the 1918 Armistice with Germany and the 1940 Armistice with France. Hitler specifically chose the location, and had the original signing carriage moved from Paris to Compiègne, as a humiliation for the defeated French.
The site still houses several memorials to the 1918 armistice, including a copy of the original railway carriage. The original was moved to Berlin after use in the 1940 armistice, as a trophy of Nazi triumph. The railway carriage was later taken to Crawinkel in Thuringia in 1945, where it was destroyed by SS troops and the remains buried. A replica now replaces it at the original site in the Compiègne Forest.