Interactive maps

Interactive plans of the castle and the gardens

  • First floor
  • The gardens
image_map

1

Entrance

2

Le jardin Anglais | the English garden

This English style landscape garden was designed by Hurtault, who also designed the Grille d’Honneur, in 1810-1812.

3

The grotte des pins

One of the earliest examples of an artificial grotto in France, the “grotte des pins” is at the end of the Louis XV wing built on the site of the Ulysses gallery wing.

4

The Cour d'Honneur

Closed on three sides and facing west towards the town since the fourth wing was demolished and a gate was created in 1809-1810, this “vast courtyard” with a uniform layout from the 16th century gradually became the main courtyard at the château.

5

Bookstore - Boutique

6

L'escalier en Fer-à-cheval | The Horseshoe staircase

The construction of a grand ceremonial staircase, leading directly to the Francis I Gallery and the Royal Apartments, turned the “White Horse Courtyard” into a main courtyard in direct competition with the very old Cour Ovale.

7

The Royal Chapel of the Trinity

In the reign of François Ist, the church of the former convent of Trinitaires was rebuilt and connected to the via the Gallery François Ist wing.

8

Jeu de paume (real tennis)

The jeu de paume court, built under Henry IV and rebuilt almost identically in the 18th century, is an invaluable record of the recreational facilities provided for the kings at Fontainebleau.

9

Le musée de l'impératrice Eugénie | Empress Eugenie's museum

Famous and priceless in equal measure, the Chinese drawing rooms and museum, refurbished for Eugenie in 1863, house exceptional collections from the Far East displayed by the Empress.

10

Napoleon Ist Petits Appartements

While the first floor of the château was entirely given over to the pomp and ceremony vital to the exercise of power, the ground floor was where the monarchs carried on with their daily life and even had some privacy.

11

Le Jardin de Diane | The Diana Garden

Formerly the Queen’s private garden, this garden is bordered by the monarchs’ most intimate spaces (the Empress’ Petits Appartements and Marie Antoinette’s Turkish boudoir).

12

The Cour de la Fontaine

Closed on three sides and overlooking the Carp pond to the south, this courtyard takes its name from the monumental fountain which was built there in the 16th century, topped with Michelangelo’s Hercules.

14

The Cour Ovale

The historical heart of the château where the big square tower of the keep still stands, the Cour Ovale was the site of the first medieval castle.

17

The Porte Dorée

In 1528 the Porte Dorée replaced a medieval gate that was in the same location.

18

The Grand Parterre

The creation of the Grand Parterre between 1660 and 1664 – the largest in Europe (14 hectares) – by André Le Nôtre and Louis Le Vau, reflects Louis XIV’s desire for open spaces at Fontainebleau.

19

La porte du Baptistère | The Baptistry Gate

It was Henry IV, the great builder king, who had this triumphal gate topped with a dome built in 1606, giving the Cour Ovale an opening in the East.

20

Cour des Offices/quartier Henri IV

A large complex formed of three wings in sandstone, bricks and rendered masonry, this front courtyard demonstrates Henry IV’s ambition to create a new entrance to the château, via the town.

21

Costume rental

22

Horse-drawn carriage rides

Calèche

Horse-drawn carriage rides

23

Boat tours

Boat tours

24

Discovery of the gardens in the Little Train

在枫丹白露宫的花园中乘坐小火车游览

Discovery of the gardens in the Little Train

25

Bathroom

26

Café des Mariniers - Monument Café

27

  • 1 Entrance

  • 2 Le jardin Anglais | the English garden

  • 3 The grotte des pins

  • 4 The Cour d'Honneur

  • 5 Bookstore - Boutique

  • 6 L'escalier en Fer-à-cheval | The Horseshoe staircase

  • 7 The Royal Chapel of the Trinity

  • 8 Jeu de paume (real tennis)

  • 9 Le musée de l'impératrice Eugénie | Empress Eugenie's museum

  • 10 Napoleon Ist Petits Appartements

  • 11 Le Jardin de Diane | The Diana Garden

  • 12 The Cour de la Fontaine

  • 14 The Cour Ovale

  • 17 The Porte Dorée

  • 18 The Grand Parterre

  • 19 La porte du Baptistère | The Baptistry Gate

  • 20 Cour des Offices/quartier Henri IV

  • 21 Costume rental

  • 22 Horse-drawn carriage rides

  • 23 Boat tours

  • 24 Discovery of the gardens in the Little Train

  • 25 Bathroom

  • 26 Café des Mariniers - Monument Café

  • 27

image_map

48

The Napoleon I Museum

A museum about the First Empire: The Napoleon I Museum

3

The Gallery of Splendours

If the term ‘gallery’ corresponds to a room providing a link between two spaces, in this case the Plate Gallery and the Pope’s apartment, the term ‘splendour’ refers to Napoleon III’s desire to bring together, in this new space opening onto the Grands Appartements, a collection of paintings that would evoke the most important historical events in the history of the Château.

9

The Pope’s Apartment

After the Grands Appartements of the Sovereigns, this eleven-room guest apartment is the most sumptuous living space in the palace.

4

The Plate Gallery

The Plate Gallery was created during the reign of Louis-Philippe I in 1840, where an old terrace once stood

17

The François Ist Gallery

Located on the first floor of a building linking the keep’s dwelling to the chapel of the convent of the Trinitaires, the François Ist Gallery is the most emblematic Renaissance room at the Château de Fontainebleau.

44

The Salon of Abdication

Emperor Napoleon’s former inner drawing room, it is the first really ornate room after the antechamber and shows a marked difference compared to the rest of the apartments

Napoleon Istsigned the Act of Abdication between 4th and 6th April 1814.

43

Emperor Napoleon’s Small Bedroom

Originally Emperor Napoleon’s private library, this room was transformed into a small bedroom on his orders.

42

Napoleon’s Bedroom

This is the most important room in the apartment. Built into Louis XVI’s former ‘powder room’ (used for washing), this stately room was richly refurbished in 1808 with a sculpted and gilded bed flanked on each corner by columns with pedestals representing the figures of Nobility, Glory, Abundance and Justice.

40

The King's bedchamber

The King’s bedchamber no longer looks like it did in the Ancien Régime: after the Revolution, in 1808, Napoleon I turned it into a Throne room, which was used until the Second Empire.

27

The Louis XIII salon

Like a delicate casket inlaid with precious paintings, the Louis XIII Salon was formerly the “grand cabinet du Roi”.

39

The Queen's Silver boudoir

Marie Antoinette liked to “bouder” or sulk about court pageantry and withdraw to this small boudoir with its exceptionally refined décor.

38

The Empress’ bedchamber

Former bedroom of the queens of France, it was used by all the kings’ wives one after the other, from Marie de Medici to Marie Antoinette.

28

The Francis I salon

This room was, in the 16th century, the bedroom of Queen Eleanor of Austria, the wife of Francis I.

29

The Tapestry room

This room was formerly the Queen’s guard room, before being turned into an antechamber.

35

The New Diana Gallery

Originally called the ‘Queen’s Gallery’ because it is located in the sovereign’s apartment, the ‘Diana Gallery’ is the longest room in the castle (80 metres long by 6 metres wide).

18

The guard room

This vast room was for the king’s guards, who watched over the entrance to the monarch’s apartment.

23

The Bedroom of The Duchess d'Étampes

Favourite of François Ist, Anne de Pisseleu, Duchess ofÉtampes, benefited from a room located immediately next to the king.

20

Madame de Maintenon’s apartment

Situated on the first floor of the Porte Dorée, under the carved coffered ceiling of a Renaissance loggia, Madam de Maintenon’s apartment has kept this name in memory of the second wife of Louis XIV who lived there in 1686.

21

The Ballroom

This sumptuous ballroom located between the Oval Court and the gardens, features pillars wrapped in oak panelling with fluted pilaster columns and is one of the most remarkable rooms in the Château de Fontainebleau.

22

The Royal St. Saturnin’s Upper Chapel

The oldest royal chapel at the Château de Fontainebleau is the Oval Courtyard, which is also known as Saint Saturnin..

  • 48 The Napoleon I Museum

  • 3 The Gallery of Splendours

  • 9 The Pope’s Apartment

  • 4 The Plate Gallery

  • 17 The François Ist Gallery

  • 44 The Salon of Abdication

  • 43 Emperor Napoleon’s Small Bedroom

  • 42 Napoleon’s Bedroom

  • 40 The King's bedchamber

  • 27 The Louis XIII salon

  • 39 The Queen's Silver boudoir

  • 38 The Empress’ bedchamber

  • 28 The Francis I salon

  • 29 The Tapestry room

  • 35 The New Diana Gallery

  • 18 The guard room

  • 23 The Bedroom of The Duchess d'Étampes

  • 20 Madame de Maintenon’s apartment

  • 21 The Ballroom

  • 22 The Royal St. Saturnin’s Upper Chapel

image_map

1

Honor Grid

Honor Grid

3

Mathurins grid

cours des Mathurins © Mathilde Hermouet

Mathurins grid

4

Diane grid

5

The Diana Garden

Formerly the Queen’s private garden, this garden is bordered by the monarchs’ most intimate spaces (the Empress’ Petits Appartements and Marie Antoinette’s Turkish boudoir). Until the 19th century, this garden was enclosed by buildings. When they were demolished, and an adjoining strip of land was purchased, it was extended towards the town. Redesigned in the style of an English landscape garden and planted with remarkable trees such as a Catalpa and an American tulip tree, it takes its name from a fountain decorated with a statue of Diana the Huntress. The only surviving highly embellished fountain created under Henry IV, it stands in the centre of a circular tiered pond. On the bottom of the pedestal supporting the majestic goddess armed with her quiver, four bronze stag heads, by Pierre Biard, and four dogs, are a reminder that Fontainebleau was considered to be the “Temple of Diana”, a hunting ground highly prized by the monarchs.
Diana Garden at the château de Fontainebleau

6

Diana Fountain

Diana with a deer by Barthélémy Prieur at the Château de Fontainebleau

Diana Fountain

7

Entrance to the English Garden

8

The grotte des pins

One of the earliest examples of an artificial grotto in France, the “grotte des pins” is at the end of the Louis XV wing built on the site of the Ulysses gallery wing. Built in the early 1540s to mark the entrance to Francis I’s Jardin des Pins, this Italian style mannerist grotto, undoubtedly designed by Primaticcio, features three arches hewn out of sandstone blocks in a rustic fashion. The columns consist of monumental Atlantes which, imprisoned in stone, represent the forces of surrounding nature, yielding “to the miracles of art” (Malherbe).

9

The English Garden

This English style landscape garden was designed by Hurtault, who also designed the Grille d’Honneur, in 1810-1812. While we know that Napoleon I did not particularly like this style of garden, it was however, very fashionable at the time. Planted with rare trees from around the world and featuring narrow, winding paths, it is traversed by an artificial river and still contains, in its secret nooks and crannies, the “fontaine Belle-Eau” after which the château is named, and whose spring was a constant source of pride for the monarchs. There follows a series of gardens created since the reign of Francis I in this western part of the estate on land claimed from monks, including the famous Jardin des Pins.

10

Belle-Eau fountain

Fontaine Belle-eau. Jardin Anglais.

Belle-Eau fountain

11

The carp pond

Facing south, the carp pond owes its name to the famous carp which have been at Fontainebleau since Henry IV. To the east, the water in the pond is held back by a dike that was called “Chaussée de l’étang” before it was renamed “Allée de Maintenon”. In the 16th century, this 6 hectare expanse of water, created in the Middle Ages to drain water from the gardens, was the setting for sumptuous water-borne festivities at the Valois Court. The octagonal pavilion was built by Louis Le Vau under Louis XIV, in 1662, and restored in 1807, during the refurbishments prior to the creation of the English garden. It was built to line up with the Grand Canal and the Grand Parterre, opening up a wide vista to the east.

13

Maintenon alley gate

Allée de Maintenon du château de Fontainebleau

Maintenon alley gate

15

The Grand Parterre

The creation of the Grand Parterre between 1660 and 1664 – the largest in Europe (14 hectares) – by André Le Nôtre and Louis Le Vau, reflects Louis XIV’s desire for open spaces at Fontainebleau. The box hedges in this French-style formal garden disappeared under Louis XV. All that remains is the general layout of the grass sections, the water features adorned with statues, including the Bassin des Cascades (17th and 19th centuries), facing east towards Henry IV’s Canal. In 1817, a square pool, known as the “pot bouillant” was added to its centre while to the south, on the forest side, a statue of the Tiber was added to the round pool. Since the time of Louis XIV, four sandstone sphinxes, goddesses with the bodies of lions sculpted by Lespagnandelle in 1664, have marked the boundary between the Parterre and the park.

16

Grid of the Place d'Armes

17

Hyver wood grid

18

Cascades Basin

19

The park

Extending beyond the stepped Bassin des Cascades, the park previously marked – to the east – the limits of the royal estate. From the village of Avon, it was crossed by the main access road to the château. Its current layout, arranged in a network of cascades and radiating pathways, dates from the creation of the canal (1,200 metres long and 40 metres wide) under Henry IV (1606-1609). Originally planted with over sixty thousand trees where rows of silver poplars, oak and fruit trees grew, this “enclosed park” and its canal were the pride and joy of the king, who followed its construction closely. In 1609, it took over a week to fill it with water and in the autumn, the king sailed on it.

20

Queen's Fountain

21

Channel

Channel

22

Outlet

23

Napoleon Fountain

24

White Gate

  • 1 Honor Grid

  • 3 Mathurins grid

  • 4 Diane grid

  • 5 The Diana Garden

  • 6 Diana Fountain

  • 7 Entrance to the English Garden

  • 8 The grotte des pins

  • 9 The English Garden

  • 10 Belle-Eau fountain

  • 11 The carp pond

  • 13 Maintenon alley gate

  • 15 The Grand Parterre

  • 16 Grid of the Place d'Armes

  • 17 Hyver wood grid

  • 18 Cascades Basin

  • 19 The park

  • 20 Queen's Fountain

  • 21 Channel

  • 22 Outlet

  • 23 Napoleon Fountain

  • 24 White Gate

Ticket blanc

Tickets and prices

Online Ticketing

Online Ticketing

Opening hours

The chateau

The chateau is open every day except Tuesday, January 1st, May 1st and December 25th.

From October to March: 9.30 am to 5 pm (last access at 4.15 pm).

From April to September: 9.30 am to 6 pm (last access at 5.15 pm).

The park and gardens are open, under the usual conditions, free of charge.

The restaurant is open every day for lunch (exceptionally closed on Tuesdays until the end of March, except on Tuesdays 13th and 20th, February).

Coming to the chateau

    Calcul de l'itinéraire jusqu'au Château de Fontainebleau