Is the Fairytale Chateau De Chantilly Better Than Versailles?

Move over Versailles! Yes, you’re one of the most famous attractions in Europe.

But the Chateau de Chantilly art collection and storybook turrets are worthy competition for the oohs and ahhs you elicit!

We’ve discovered that river cruises are a delightful way to visit sites and attractions we might not otherwise see if touring independently. 

So we’re glad that on our Seine River cruise with Scenic Cruises, the Normandy itinerary included a guided tour of this chateau’s palatial rooms and art.

One of the loveliest fairytale castles in Europe, the chateau turned out to be every bit as impressive as Versailles – but without the elbow-jabbing hordes of tourists.

Chateau de Chantilly

The estate (Domaine de Chantilly) dates back the 14th century.

It last belonged privately to Henri d’Orleans, the Duke of Aumale and hugely wealthy son of the last king of France, Louise-Philippe.

It’s made up of two attached buildings, one a smaller 17th century chateau in Renaissance style, with a second larger 19th century building behind.

The whole edifice is surrounded by a moat – look down and you can see large black carp swimming in the water.

Chantilly lace and…

You’ve probably heard the rock-and-roll song Chantilly Lace?

France’s Chantilly district is indeed famous for its delicate Chantilly lace – along with its sweet Chantilly cream and horse racing (it’s home to the largest horse stables in the country, a boarding school for jockeys and even a private hospital to treat jockey-specific conditions).

Less well-known – at least perhaps to visitors from outside France – is the Chateau de Chantilly.

Yet it houses marvelous artworks. The collection of art is the second finest collection of classical paintings in France after the Louvre.

Visitors are often surprised to discover that the chateau’s art gallery (Musee Conde) is home to works by the famous Italian Renaissance artists Botticelli and Titian, as well as three original Rafael paintings.

Other names you might recognize, whose paintings are also displayed in the art museum, include Flemish painter Van Dyck, French landscape painter Corot and Ingres (who painted one of the best known images of Napolean Bonaparte).

Gallery of Paintings

The Gallery of Paintings is the largest room in the chateau.

It’s absolutely splendid, with 85 paintings hung at different heights on Pompeii red walls.

The canvasses are lit by natural light streaming through the soaring glass ceiling.

Several Italian Renaissance masterpieces – including Raphael’s “The Madonna of Loreto” and “Simonetta Vespucci” by Piero di Cosimo – are displayed in the Rotunda at the end of this gallery.

Other rooms and galleries

Other smaller rooms in the Conde Museum contain lots more art, including many portraits of princes, kings, princesses and so on.

(Without Facebook and email, sending out portraits was important when arranging royal marriages centuries ago, so the prospective spouse could get an idea of who they were marrying!)

And is that Marie Antoinette? Yes, there’s a large portrait of her here too.

The Duke of Aumale designed the arrangement of his paintings himself.

He apparently liked showing his guests his art collection after a banquet in the chateau’s Gallery of Stags. No doubt they were impressed!

The reading room

As well as having a passion for art, the Duke of Aumale loved to read, confessing in a letter to a friend: “I think I’m suffering from bibliomania!”

The library or “reading room” is filled with almost 19,000 books (some 3,000 are books in German and Italian on math, botany and other scientific subjects).

There are also 1,500 beautiful medieval manuscripts; several are displayed in glass showcases.

(Before the printing press was invented in Europe in the mid-1400s, books were handwritten; they were often colorfully decorated and illuminated with real gold and silver.)

The oldest illuminated manuscript in the Chantilly castle collection dates back to the 11th century.

Sadly, the Duke of Aumale’s two sons died of yellow fever in Africa at the ages of 18 and 21.

With no other living descendents, he bequeathed the Chateau de Chantilly to the learned society Institut de France on the condition that it be opened to the public and the layout of the art remain unchanged.

What you see today is how it was at the time of the Duke’s death in 1897.

How to visit the Domaine de Chantilly

We toured the chateau while on a Seine River cruise on the deluxe Scenic Gem, operated by Scenic Cruises.

The guided tour is one of the included shore excursions on the Paris-to-Honfleur river cruise.

The Chateau de Chantilly can also be visited on a day trip from Paris.

If you have the luxury of time, give yourself a day to appreciate all the chateau’s art along with the estate’s grand stables and extensive gardens.

We wished we had more time than the few hours we had. (But we had so many more sights to see on our cruise!)

For more information, see the Domaine de Chantilly website.

Other things to do in Chantilly?

Check out the Chantilly Tourism Office website.

If you stay in Paris

Discover what to do and where to stay and eat, so you can have an incredible 3 days in Paris.

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Photo credits: © Janice and George Mucalov, SandInMySuitcase (except where noted)

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We cruised with Scenic Cruises on assignment for various publications. The views expressed and words written are always our own.

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