Paris(but not only)  Personal Tours

Originally built for Anne de Montmorency, most of the original chateau built in the 16th century was destroyed at the time of the French revolution but was admirably rebuilt in the second half of the 19th century by the Duc d'Aumale, a son of king Louis-Philippe, who inherited the land after the last Prince de Condé died without surviving children (long and fascinating stories to be told about that on location).


The Duc d'Aumale spent the rest of his enormous fortune collecting a unique art collection which he then donated to the Institut de France when he himself died without surviving children in 1897.


Chantilly displays the second largest collection of paintings in France (after the Louvre) : 800 paintings including works by, among others, Raphael, Titian, Ingres and Delacroix.


We can easily spend the day at Chantilly (but we can reduce it to 5 hours round trip if you wish) as the gardens cover an area of no less than 284 acres which are divided into 3 gardens:  the French-style garden created by André Le Nôtre in the 17th century, the Anglo-Chinese Garden of the 18th century (whose hamlet served as a model for the one of Marie-Antoinette at Versailles), and the English Garden of the 19th century.


Chantilly is also famous around the world for its stables of the 18th century which house the "Horse museum",  a museum that explores the relationship between horse and man since the Antiquity.


Last but not least, Chantilly is famous for giving its name to our whipped cream! You should know by now that I love to make digressions, click here for a savory one!


My not-so-good pictures below don't do the palace justice. Please go on their website to see what it looks like.



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Chateau de Chantilly