Fontainebleau & Vaux-le-Vicomte Private Tour from Paris

The first foundations of the Palace dated from the 12th century. King Philippe Auguste, Saint Louis and then during the Renaissance with King François 1, the palace underwent its most spectacular transformations. Fontainebleau palace spreads across four main court yards. The diversity of the buildings is testimony of the successive constructions undertaken from the 16th until the 19th century. You will start this visit in crossing the gate of honour to access to the white horse courtyard with its famous horseshoe stair case built in 1634 which drive you to the State & Private Apartments and Galleries of which the most famous : Francois I gallery. All the rooms are lavishly furnished with furniture of the Renaissance and Napoleon period and recently renovated. The Throne room is unique in France. Your guide will either guide you inside the Palace or provide an audio-guide in your language to follow this visit of one of the most spectacular and splendid palace of France.

In the early seventeenth century, between the royal residences of Vincennes and Fontainebleau, a small castle stood at the confluence of two small rivers. The domain was called Vaux-le-Vicomte. In 1641, Nicolas Fouquet, purchased the estate. Fifteen years later the first stone of a unique masterpiece was laid; it was to be the finest château and garden in France. This achievement was brought about through the collaboration of three men of genius whom Fouquet had chosen for the task: the architect Le Vau, the painter-decorator Le Brun and the landscape gardener Le Nôtre. The artistic and cultivated sensibility of their patron was a great stimulus to their talents. They were not alone; the poet La Fontaine, Molière, playwright and actor, Madame de Sévigné, Pellisson and Scarron formed the circle around this great patron of literature and the arts.