Fontainebleau

fon-tan-blo, a village on the Seine, thirty-seven miles above Paris. As in the case of Versailles the village is unimportant. Interest centers in the royal palace of Fontainebleau and in the magnificent forest of the same name. In 1547 Francis I converted a medieval fortress into a chateau or palace, unrivaled in Europe for extent and magnificence. On account of its retirement, and the delightful forest surrounding it, the place was the favorite residence of French monarchs. This extensive pile of buildings contains five separate courts. The buildings are two stories in height. With the exception of several pavilions their exterior is not particularly imposing; but the interiors are decorated without regard to expense, in a style unsurpassed even in France.

The merest stroll through the vast hallways, picture galleries, halls, and suites of rooms is a day's task. The visitor is shown the room where Louis XIV signed the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, the hall in which the sentence of divorce was proclaimed against the Empress Josephine in 1809, and the court where Napoleon parted from the grenadiers of his old guard before his banishment to Elba in 1814. The mirrors and vases of Marie Antoinette, the bed and clock of Napoleon, the table on which he signed his abdication, together with many other objects of interest are pointed out. The preliminaries of the treaty of peace between Great Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal were arranged at Fontainebleau in 1762. A treaty, known as the Peace of Fontainebleau, was concluded here in 1785, between the French emperor and the Dutch.

The forest of Fontainebleau is about twelve miles in diameter and covers an area of 42,000 acres. It is the most beautiful forest in Europe. Springs, gorges, magnificent old trees, a cavern once the haunt of bandits, and rustic huts in which souvenirs of the forest are sold, are connected by walks and drives shaded by overarching trees. Foot paths intersect the forest in every direction. The wayfarer might wander through the forest for days without exhausting its resources. A number of picturesque villages find shelter around its borders. Among others, Barbison is noted as the residence of artists who delight in painting the scenes of Fontainebleau. It is to the credit of the French republic that the chateau and forest are well kept. The president of Frances lives here in the summer-time.

See Versailles; Paris; Seine