Guided tours and workshops for families
Come and enjoy numerous activities at the castle on the theme of Belgium and the climate. Land Art or comic strip workshops, but also unmissable and fantastic guided tours will amaze young and old!
2, 3 and 4 June 2023
The castle, the exhibitions and the activities are free of charge.
Find the whole program on www.festivaldelhistoiredelart.fr
Places for the guided tours are distributed at the kiosk in the Cour d’Honneur of the Château from 9.30 a.m. in the morning and 1 p.m. in the afternoon, with the exception of the tours of the Imperial Theatre which are free.
- Imperial Theatre
Inaugurated in 1857, this jewel of the Second Empire was designed by the architect Hector Lefuel at the request of Napoleon III. Recently restored, the theatre reveals all the richness and delicacy of its décor.
Free access from 10:00 to 12:30 and from 13:30 to 17:30 - The Emperor Small Apartements
Away from the ceremonial rooms, discover the Small Apartements, spaces devoted to the private life of the Emperor Napoleon I and his successive wives.
Friday 2 June at 10am, 11.30am and 3pm
Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 June, at 10am, 11.30am and 2.45pm - The Apartments of Mme de Maintenon
This place, exceptionally open, has kept this name in memory of its illustrious occupant and the events that took place there in the 17th century.
Friday 2 at 10am, 11.30am, 1.45pm, 3.15pm and 4.30pm
Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 June at 10am, 11.30am, 1.45pm, 3pm and 4.30pm - Splendours and backstage
This guided tour will allow you to discover some of the emblematic spaces of the Second Empire that are usually closed to visitors (Empress Eugenie’s museum, Appartement 49 and the Emperor’s cabinet).
Friday 2, Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 June at 11:30 am - The Rosa Bonheur smoking room
We invite you to come and discover the new display, enriched with some fifteen works returning from the “Rosa Bonheur” exhibition presented at the Musée d’Orsay and the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux in 2022-2023.
Friday 2 June at 1.30pm
Saturday 3 June at 11.45am and 2.15pm
Sunday 4 June at 10am, 11.45am, 2pm and 3.30pm - Belgian artworks in the Napoleon I Museum
The Napoleon I Museum, reconfigured in 2018, evokes the Belgian departments that were incorporated into France from 1795 to 1814. Eight recently acquired works, including five presented for the first time, reveal the vitality of Belgian artistic life.
Friday 2 and Saturday 3 June at 4 pm - L’œuvre de Piat-Joseph Sauvage (1744-1818)
Lors des travaux entrepris à Fontainebleau en 1786 pour rénover l’appartement du roi et celui de la reine, l’artiste belge Piat-Joseph Sauvage réalise pour le château plus d’une vingtaine de dessus-de-porte extraordinaires qui subsistent toujours.
Samedi 3 juin à 14h30 - Cold and draughty!!! The vagaries of time…
Fontainebleau, with its eight centuries of history, allows you to discover the many facets of the fight against the cold…
Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 June at 10.15 am - Behind the scenes
Discover how a castle is built and the different ways in which it is decorated.
Friday 2 June at 1.45pm
Saturday 3 June at 10am and 3.45pm
Sunday 4 June at 10am - The four seasons
The inexorable passing of time has always been a subject for artists who have been quick to deal with this phenomenon throughout the centuries. Through painting and tapestry, this theme is evoked through the seasons and the activities they generate.
Friday 2 June at 10am
Saturday 3 June at 10am and 11.45am
Sunday 4 June at 11.30 am
One-hour tours led by graduate students from the Ecole du Louvre. Tours are available on reservation at the kiosk in the Cour d’Honneur.
- The climate in all its states: nature and culture at the Château de Fontainebleau
The climate? Everyone is talking about it! Questioning our own vision of the world, this tour proposes to explore the interactions between nature and culture, through a selection of works and architectural details.
Friday 2 June at 10.15 am
Sunday 4 June at 1.30pm - How to live well in the Italian style in Fontainebleau?
During the Renaissance, Italian codes were acclimatised at the court of Fontainebleau. By evoking frescoes, loggias and costumes, we will see during this visit how the French court appropriated these Italian influences.
Friday 2 June, Saturday 3 June and Sunday 4 June at 3 pm - History by the fireplace
From the fireplace to the hangings and the carpets, a whole range of elements are used to cope with the rigours of the Bellifontaine climate.
Friday 2 June at 1.30 pm
Saturday 3 June at 11am - A history of the seasonal nature of the Fontainebleau holiday
Whether it was Louis XIV’s autumn hunting grounds or Napoleon III’s summer holiday resort, discover the many faces of Fontainebleau over the seasons!
Friday 2 and Saturday 3 June at 1.30pm
Sunday 4 June at 4.30pm - The cycle of the seasons at the Château de Fontainebleau
Come and discover the works of art inside the château that evoke the cycle of the seasons. From the Renaissance to modern times, we will look at the climate through this theme for an overview of both the use and the decoration of the château.
Friday 2 and Sunday 4 June at 11 am - The cycle of the seasons at the Château de Fontainebleau
Come and discover the works of art inside the château that evoke the cycle of the seasons. From the Renaissance to modern times, we will look at the climate through this theme for an overview of both the use and the decoration of the château.
Friday 2 and Sunday 4 June at 11 am
Visits are available on reservation at the kiosk in the Cour d’Honneur.
- Introduction to the game of paume
During demonstrations and initiations in the only historical paume game room still in use in France, the master paume player explains the history of the “game of kings, king of games”, its rules, and the many French expressions that come from it.
Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 June, from 10am to 12pm and from 2pm to 6pm, departure every 30 minutes
Salle du jeu de paume
From 7 years old - Animals in art
We invite you to a playful exploration of the animal world in their environment. Through various animal games, will you manage to find food for the young, help them to hide at nightfall, and why not assist them in their migrations?
Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 June at 10.30am, 11.45am, 3.30pm and 5pm
Flower Gallery
From 6 years old
RMN – Grand Palais - Land Art Workshop
Come and take part in a 100% nature creation experience for the whole family. Using natural elements from around you, you are invited to create your own works on the spot. At the end of the session, you will of course leave with your masterpiece!
Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 June, from 10am to 11.30am, from 1.30pm to 3pm and from 3.45pm to 5.15pm
English garden
From 6 years old - “The trees that hide the forest”
As the seasons change, the most original and exceptional trees in the English garden are presented by the students of the François I high school in Fontainebleau on a digital platform, allowing visitors to “herborize” in the English garden and learn more about the botanical heritage of the castle
Friday 2, Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 June
The events are accessible without reservation, subject to availability.
- La Muse en Circuit
How does nature become a sacred territory? The musicians and composers Alvaro Martinez Lèon and Cinna Peyghamy have taken up this question to create, with the pupils of two Melun secondary schools, a sensitive sound journey drawing on the worlds of electronics and vocal experimentation, and performed by them.
Friday 2 June at 2pm
Jardin Anglais
Producer: La Muse en Circuit – CNCM
Partners: Les Capucins and Chopin de Melun secondary schools / Les Deux Muses Conservatory, Melun / City of Melun - “Four Seasons”
Vivaldi’s Four Seasons was an immediate success at its premiere before falling into oblivion and becoming one of the most performed works of the 20th century. The listener is invited to recognise Vivaldi’s paintings of nature. The Four Seasons are a stronger reminder today of how man lives and depends on his environment, which has never been more topical.
Saturday 3 June at 2.30 pm and 4.30 pm
Salle de Bal
In partnership with the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris (CNSMDP) (Stéphane Pallez, President, Emilie Delorme, Director)
Concept and artistic direction: Christophe Robert
With students from the early music department - Orchestre à l’Ecole
As every year, the sharing of places and culture, as well as musical heritage, will take the form of a concert by an Rochestre à l’Ecole class selected for its original repertoire telling the story of the event in music: the climate.
Sunday 4 June at 2.30pm
Ballroom
Book and Art Journal Fair
The book fair will be back with a new format, organised by the RMN – Grand Palais. Two art history courses will be given by lecturers on Sunday June 4, and the RMN – Grand Palais bookshop and 60 other publishers will be presenting a wide range of books in the Henri IV district.
The courses are accessible without reservation, subject to availability.
In 15th-century northern Europe, the widespread use of oil painting made it possible to render light, textures and naturalistic details with brilliance. Unlike the Italian painter, the Nordic painter describes the landscape through colours rather than lines and, through a meticulous rendering, gives life to the flesh of the figures without reference to ancient statuary.
Sunday 4th June
From 11am to 12.30pm
Henri IV dining room
Speaker: Sylvaine Joy
Adult audience
Industrial revolution, urbanization, fields of billboards, the triumph of consumerism and the apotheosis of plastic… how do artists react to the artificialization of our environment? The seduction of pop-coloured horizons fades and melancholy sets in. If the 20th century was the century of reinforced concrete, will the 21st century be the century of the return to the earth?
Sunday 4 June
From 2.30 pm to 4 pm
Dining room of the Henri IV district
Speaker: Fleur Chevalier
Adult audience
Rendez-vous aux jardins
For this 20th edition of Rendez-vous aux jardins, come and (re)discover the exceptional vegetal heritage of the Château de Fontainebleau on the theme of “The Music of the Garden” on 2, 3 and 4 June. Many workshops and tours will be offered on this occasion.
Places for the guided tours and workshops are available at the kiosk in the Cour d’Honneur of the Château.
From one courtyard to another, discover the major stages in the construction of the château and gardens, their history, the technical challenges faced by the architects and their evolution over the centuries.
Friday 2 and Sunday 4 June at 11.30am, 3pm and 4pm
Saturday 3 June at 11.15am, 3.30pm and 4.30pm
Let’s take a walk in the gardens! Take a walk around the grotto of the Pines, stroll through the alleys of the English garden, and stroll through the garden of Diana. From François I to Napoleon III, what did people do in these gardens? Walk, listen to music, learn about botany… discover the occupations of the court in the park of Fontainebleau!
Friday 2, Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 June at 4.30pm
Come and take part in a 100% nature creation experience for the whole family. Using natural elements from around you, you are invited to create your own works on the spot. At the end of the session, you will of course leave with your masterpiece!
Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 June, from 10am to 11.30am, from 1.30pm to 3pm and from 3.45pm to 5.15pm
Jardin anglais
From 6 years old
This trail of stories for the ear was created by classes of 6th graders from La Chapelle-la-Reine. It takes visitors on a poetic and fantastic walk to discover the metamorphosis of the English garden and the castle in the age of climate change. The pleasure of storytelling and the marvellous, enriched by the imagination of children, takes over the garden.
Friday 2, Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 June
Jardin Anglais
Accessible without reservation, subject to availability
The castle invites you to discover a selection of works from the Grandeur Nature contemporary art trail and to explore the natural landscape in which they are exhibited. Come and take an artistic, offbeat and amused look at this unique landscape.
Duration: 1h30
Discover the château and gardens in a unique way
Every day, the castle offers numerous guided tours, allowing you to discover the secrets and historical anecdotes of this royal palace. Small flats, Empress Eugenie’s museum, imperial theatre… access exceptional spaces that will amaze young and old alike!
Only available in french at the moment.
Depending on the season and your wishes, discover the gardens through unforgettable experiences. Horse-drawn carriage rides, mini-train rides, canoeing, or a visit to the Jeu de Paume room, choose the activity that suits you best.
You can also take advantage of the restaurant Les Petites Bouches de l’Empereur, the Café des Mariniers and a wide range of takeaway food for both big and small appetites.
