Southern Folk Artist & Antiques Dealer/Collector: A visit to the Château de Rambouillet, the summer residence of the Presidents of the French Republic.

La Charité Fraternelle by Julien-Edouard Conny, 1865 - Château de Rambouillet, Yvelines, France

In January of 2015, I visited one of my favorite places to see in France. The Château de Rambouillet it had been about ten years since my last visit. Because this is one of the residence of the Presidents of the French Republic the Château is not open all year around. My love for this Château is it's connection to French Queen Marie Antoinette. I had spend a month in Paris between Dec of 2014-Jan 2015. The weather in Paris was mild for winter but I chose the coldest day to visit the Château. I remember puddles on the ground being frozen over! Although it was very cold and I was underdressed I had a wonderful time at this amazing Château. Because it is not that well known you do not have to worry about large crowds like you do at Versailles or other famous Château. There were about 6 other people o my tour. The only thing I don't like about the tour is no photography is allowed inside the Château.

The train ride from Paris to Rambouillet is less than a hour away. The village of Rambouillet is very charming as well as the Château. Rambouillet is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located on the outskirts of Paris, 44.3 km (27.5 mi) southwest from the centre. Rambouillet is a sub-prefecture of the department. Rambouillet lies on the edge of the vast Forest of Rambouillet (Forêt de Rambouillet or Forêt de l'Yveline), and is famous for its historical castle, the Château de Rambouillet, which hosted several international summits. Due to its proximity to Paris and Versailles, Rambouillet has long been an occasional seat of government.

The Château de Rambouillet is a chateau in the town of Rambouillet, Yvelines department, in the Île-de-France region in northern France, 50 km (31 mi) southwest of Paris. It was the summer residence of the Presidents of the French Republic.

The château was originally a fortified manor dating back to 1368 and, although amputated of its eastern wing at the time of Napoleon I, it still retains its pentagonal bastioned footprint. King Francis I died there, on 31 March 1547, probably in the imposing medieval tower that bears his name. Like the Hôtel de Rambouillet in Paris, the château was owned by Charles d'Angennes, the marquis de Rambouillet during the reign of Louis XIII.[1] Avenues led directly from the park of the chateau into the adjacent game-rich forest. More than 200 square kilometres of forest remain, the remnant of the Forest of Rambouillet, also known as Forêt d'Yveline or Forêt de l'Yveline.

In 1783, the château became the private property of king Louis XVI, who bought it from his cousin, the duc de Penthièvre, as an extension of his hunting grounds. Queen Marie-Antoinette, who accompanied her husband on a visit in November 1783, is said to have exclaimed: "Comment pourrais-je vivre dans cette gothique crapaudière!" (How could I live in such a gothic toadhouse!) However, to induce his wife to like his new acquisition, Louis XVI commissioned in great secret the construction of the renowned Laiterie de la Reine, (the Queen's dairy), where the buckets were of Sèvres porcelain, painted and grained to imitate wood, and the presiding nymph was a marble Amalthea, with the goat that nurtured Jupiter, sculpted by Pierre Julien. A little salon was attached to the dairy itself, with chairs supplied by Georges Jacob in 1787 that had straight, tapering stop-fluted legs

La Charité Fraternelle by Julien-Edouard Conny, 1865 - Château de Rambouillet, Yvelines, France

During the French Revolution, the domain of Rambouillet became bien national, the chateau being emptied of its furnishings and the gardens and surrounding park falling into neglect.

During the reign of Napoleon I, Rambouillet was included in his liste civile (list of government-owned property at the disposal of the head of state). The emperor came several times to Rambouillet, the last being on the night of 29–30 June 1815, on his way to exile to Saint Helena. Among the reminders of Napoléon are the Pompeian style bathroom with its small bathtub and the exquisite balcony built to link the emperor's apartment to that of his second wife, the empress Marie-Louise. Another reminder of Napoléon was the splendid Allée de Cyprès chauves de Louisiane, a double-lined bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) avenue.

At the time of the Bourbon Restoration, Rambouillet was again included in the royal liste civile. Fifteen years after Napoleon I, Charles X's road to exile also started at Rambouillet. On 2 August 1830, he signed his abdication here in favour of his nine-year-old grandson, the Duke of Bordeaux. It took twenty minutes to talk his son, the Duke of Angoulême, into, reluctantly, countersigning the document, thus abandoning his rights to the throne of France in favor of his nephew.

From 1830 to 1848, the domain of Rambouillet, which had belonged to his grandfather, the duc de Penthièvre, was not included in Louis Philippe I's liste civile; however, begged to do so by the townspeople, the emperor Napoléon III, who reigned from 1852 to 1870, requested its inclusion in his.

After the fall of Napoleon III in 1870, which saw the beginning of the French Third Republic, the domain of Rambouillet was leased from 1870 to 1883 to the duc de la Trémoille. In February 1896, Rambouillet received a visit from President Félix Faure who then decided to spend his summers there with his family. Since, the château of Rambouillet has become the summer residence of France's Presidents of the Republic, who entertain, and used to invite to hunting parties many foreign dignitaries, princes and heads of state. As a part-time residence of the French president, it is sometimes referred to as the Palace of Rambouillet.

On 23 August 1944, two days before the liberation of Paris, General Charles de Gaulle arrived at Rambouillet and set up his headquarters in the chateau where, in the evening, he met General Philippe Leclerc who, at the head of his French 2nd Armored Division (2e Division blindée, more affectionately known in France as La Deuxième DB), had mission to liberate Paris. Part of the French 2nd Armored Division was to leave from Rambouillet at dawn the following day, on its march "to capture Paris".[10] On August 25, around 2 p.m., "both wrought with emotion and filled with serenity", General de Gaulle left Rambouillet by car to enter "Paris libérée".

In November 1975, the first "G6" summit was organized in the château by French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing for the heads of the world's leading industrialized countries. Attending were: Gerald Ford (United States), Harold Wilson (United Kingdom), Aldo Moro (Italy), Takeo Miki (Japan) and Helmut Schmidt (West Germany).

The château de Rambouillet continues to be used as a venue for bilateral summits and, in February 1999, was host to the negotiations on Kosovo. (See Kosovo War.)

On 26 December 1999, Hurricane Lothar[12][13] hit the northern half of France, wreaking havoc to forests, parks and buildings. The Forest of Rambouillet lost hundreds of thousands of trees, and among the over five thousand downed trees in the park of Rambouillet, was the handsome, historical Allée de Cyprès chauves de Louisiane, the bald cypress avenue planted in 1810.

Shell Thatched Cottage at the Château de Rambouillet, Near Paris, France. The Chaumière aux Coquillages (Shell Cottage) is a garden folly built in 1773 by the Duke of Penthièvre for his daughter-in-law, the Princess of Lamballe. On the outside, the building appears as a plain thatched cottage, but the interior is richly decorated with seashells, mother-of-pearl and marble.

façade whose pebble-dashed walls were studded with ox bones built into the walls used to get out moisture from the interior room.

After touring the Château de Rambouillet. A French tour guide drive me to the locations of The Laiterie de la Reine, the Queen's Dairy and The Chaumière des coquillages close by. The Chaumière des coquillages or shell thatched cottage I had first visited the site in 2001. The outside of this building seems like a 18th century peasant's thatched cottage but when the door was open before me, what was revealed was a delightful fantasy shell grotto. It's walls inlaid with Neoclassical patterns of colored shells. Built 1779-1780 by one of the richest men in France the Duc de Penthievre for his recently widowed daughter-in-law, The Princess de Lamballe. The cottage sits in a Anglo-Chinois garden laid out by Artist Hubert Robert. The Princesse de Lamballe was fond of her hideaway, as well as Marie Antoinette who used the room to serve tea after 1783 when the château became the private property of king Louis XVI, who bought it from his cousin the duc de Penthièvre as an extension of his hunting grounds. In latter years Napoleon found it a ideal escape from the agitated life at the chateau.

More OX bones

Thatched roof

The Chaumière des coquillages, a thatched-roof cottage with its marble interior decorated with shells and mother of pearl, was built in 1779-1780 in the English garden of the Domain of Rambouillet by Claude-Martin Goupy, the architect of the duc de Penthièvre, for the princesse de Lamballe, Penthièvre's widowed daughter-in-law.

Some of the wonderful 18th century painting decorating a French door.

The Laiterie de la Reine, the Queen's Dairy also built on the grounds of the Domain of Rambouillet, is adjacent to the Bergerie. It was built in 1787 at the request of Louis XVI for his wife Marie Antoinette and designed by the architect Jean-Jacques Thévenin.