Chateau de St-Germain

About

In the 16th century, after returning from Italy, Francis I deemed the medieval castle that original stood on the site too uncomfortable, and went about reconstructing it. The new Renaissance palace became a favourite of the kings of France, who made their own additions and changes to the state. It was Louis XIV, born here in 1638, who made the chateau the seat of the government of the kingdom. By the 18th century the castle had been abandoned, but Emperor Napoleon III breathed new life into it, restoring the chateau and installing a museum of Celtic and Gallo-Roman antiquities. Today, the museum houses one of the largest archeology collections in Europe, with artefacts dating back to the paleolithic.