Once upon a time I walked around the Saint-Germain-dés-Pres quarter in the 6th arrondissement of Paris looking for a large royal palace. After not finding anything of the sort, I gradually started to suspect that Saint-Germain-dés-Pres and Saint-Germain-en-Laye might be two different places. Indeed, these are two different places. Saint-Germain-en-Laye Read More …
Most of the French Royal Palaces began in a modest way as fortified hunting lodges, and Saint-Germain-en-Laye was no exception. It was begun in the year 1124 on orders of King Louis VI (1081-1137), so he could go hunting in the forests of Saint-Germain and Marly-le-Roi. Over the centuries, this Read More …
The old Château in Saint-Germain-en-Laye was used for decades as a hospital, a cavalry school, a caserne and a prison, and by the 1860s it was in terrible condition. The local council considered it a threat to public health and safety, and wanted to tear it down, but the Emperor Read More …
The Château-Neuf or New Palace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye was built starting in 1556 and served as a royal palace for over a century. It was a huge palace in its day, but large parts of it were demolished in the 18th century. Now one of the few remnants, the Pavillon Henri Read More …