Château d'Ecouen

The Château d'Écouen, north of Paris, was built from 1538 by Anne de Montmorency, Constable of France, on the ruins of a medieval fortress. The building site ended in 1555. The plan is a quadrilateral flanked by four corner pavilions, modified in 1547 to add royal apartments. Jean Bullant was the main architect, and Jean Goujon, Bernard Palissy and Masseot Abaquesne also worked there. The park was designed in the seventeenth century by Jules Hardouin-Mansart.

Napoleon founded a school there in 1805 for the daughters of members of the Legion of Honour, which stayed there until 1962. The castle has housed since 1977 the National Museum of the Renaissance, the only French museum entirely devoted to this period. You can discover notably the tapestry of David and Bathsheba, tapestries, painted fireplaces, goldwork, ceramics and faïences.

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