Fontainebleau is often called the capital of French history or as Napoleon
III described: "Here is the true residence of kings, the house of the
centuries”. Fontainebleau can claim with this title for, there is no other
castle in France, which can praise itself to having accommodated 34
sovereigns from Louis VI to Napoleon III. All these French sovereigns came
in Fontainebleau in autumn, which was the hunting season and the regular
appointment of the Court. The large forests around the castle were excellent
hunting grounds and are still very beautiful when all red and yellow in an
autumn sunset.
The name of Fontainebleau is always been connected to hunts. According to
legend "la Fontaine-Belle-Eau" or "the Fountain-Bliaut" would be the name a
dog owner gave to fountain in a clearing in the heart of the forest, he
discovered during a hunt. It is close to this clearing, that a first hunting
manor was built around 1247.
The main attraction of the small village of Fontainebleau is its 16th
century castle which is actually the first renaissance building outside
Italy. It has an impressive staircase and a delicate gallery with stucco
ornaments and a huge formal garden. To know all about the castle, you can
visit http://www.chateaudefontainebleau.net
The forests around the village are beautiful, especially in autumn, the
traditional hunting season. The area is also well known for the boulders
that lay scattered around. They yearly attract thousands of sport climbers.
Also the adjacent Seine river is a good alternative for the over crowded
Loire river if you’re into canoeing.
_________Sights
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The main attraction of the village of Fontainebleau is the 16th century
hunting castle. The ground of this casle infact cover more ground than the
village itself. Used by the Kings of France from the 12th century, the
hunting residence of Fontainebleau, at the heart of a vast forest in the
Ile- de-France, was transformed, enlarged and embellished in the 16th
century by François I, who wanted to make a "New Rome" of it. Surrounded by
an immense park, the palace, of Italian inspiration, combines Renaissance
and French artistic traditions. The chateau was built from 1528 onwards
around the keep of a small medieval chateau. Though François I was the one
who, inspired by what he had seen on his conquest of the northern part of
Italy, introduced the renaissance to France, Henry II and Catherine de
Medici most decisive of the old castle. For the changed and adhered to the
original initial plan, which was already the result of successive decisions
of Francois I. The Gallery of Francois I, with its frescoes framed in stucco
by Rosso, is the first great, decorated gallery built in France or out of
Italy and still one of the highlights of the castle. It is said that
Catherine de Medici was the great motivator behind the project, for she was
homesick and felt not accepted in Paris, for being a descendant of an
ordinary doctor and not born in to royalty. Henry II and Catherine de Medici
commissioned architects Philibert Delorme and Jean Bullant to redecorate the
castle. Italian Mannerist artists Rosso Fiorentino and Primaticcio did
additional work in the interior decoration. Their decoration sceme layed the
foundation of a tradition now called the School of Fontainebleau. The art of
Fontainebleau, was an offshoot of the mannerist style developed in Italy.
The style is characterized by a refined elegance, with crowded figural
compositions in which painting and elaborate stucco work were closely
integrated. The work of the Fontainebleau artists incorporated allegory in
accordance with the courtly liking for symbolism. Fontainebleau was a
hunting castle, and the hint is displayed in many ways in the ornamentation
of the castle and the huge gardens around it. Even though a portion of the
formal baroque garden was reshaped into an English styled landscape garden,
the original feel can still be sensed. Another innovation of the castle is
the giant staircase, which almost like a river flows from the belle etage.
It facilitated a whole range of different possibilities the receive gests,
all according the their relative importance to the king. All the time the
castle was in use, different kings and owners have commissioned
redecorations and additions, gradually these additions have changed into
restorations. Since the end of last century, work of restoration of the
buildings and gardens continued. The now acclaimed Unesco World Heritage
monument is especially indebted to the patronage of Rockefeller for the
restoration of the “l'Aile de la Belle-Cheminée” (wing of the beautiful
chimney). An active policy of purchases made it possible to supplement the
collections (porcelain service of the Emperor). Too know all about this
monument, you can visit htp://www.chateaudefontainebleau.net
_____Things to do
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Maybe Fontainebleau is not the first name that pops into your mind if you
think about climbing, but the forests around the village hide one of the
finest bouldering sites in the world. This site was already discovered in
the 30’s and has grown to be a real bouldering Mecca. The climbing is on
sandstone which causes friction problems. To push up the stakes there are
lots of boulders with very tiny edges, and lots of overhanging moves.
Fortunately the boulders are arranged in circuits, according to their
difficulty and there are several schools that provide excellent trainings
and guidance. It is relatively easy to follow a circuit, but it is very
useful to have the guidebook and it’s virtually impossible to find the
beginning of each circuit without it. |
