Fontainebleau : a royal megastructure

Fontainebleau : a royal megastructure

Located on the edge of a 20,000 hectare opaque forest and visited by more than 10 million visitors a year, Château de Fontainebleau is one of the most imposing in France. With its Renaissance gallery, built 150 years before the ice cream gallery, its huge flowerbed and its vast canal of more than 1 km, Fontainebleau is the only residence that has sheltered all the dynasties of France. François I, Henri IV, the Sun King and even Napoleon, all contributed to making this castle a real architectural feat. For this, the builders had to take up extraordinary challenges to make the power of the Crown shine through. A look back at the epic story of the creation of this dazzling royal megastructure, a small hunting lodge that has become a symbol of power.