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Saturday, September 15, 2018

Touring the Chateau de Chantilly, France - 1 - by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Touring Château de Chantilly:  Exploring one of France’s Art Treasure Palaces with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget



One of the main reasons my husband Laurent and I visited the Château at Chantilly was to view the manuscript called Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry illustrated by the de Limbourg Brothers – Paul, Hermann, and Jean.

This manuscript shows what happens in each month to assure a successful harvest for food and wine.  There are astrological symbols associated with each month, which allows sky watchers to know what month they are in.

This manuscript was created for use by a nobleman.  It is decorated with gold, the blue in it resembles lapis lazuli, and the brilliant yellows might have been the inspiration for the poisonous arsenic pages in library books that Umberto Eco wrote about in his book The Name of the Rose that was later made into a movie by the same name.

The library at the Château de Chantilly houses the Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Barry manuscript.  Our tour guide told us that you had to apply to the Institut de France to see it and would have to wear a surgical mask over your mouth and gloves to handle it.

The Château has facsimiles for reference.  I bought a miniature Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry as a souvenir.

Another artwork housed in the museum at Chantilly that I like is the Renaissance portrait of Simonetta Vespucci by Piero de Cosimo (1462 – 1521), who is portrayed with a snake necklace.

Italians still know that beautiful jewelry is wonderful and like to collect it.  However, if they need food, clothing, and shelter for their families, jewelry sometimes will be sold or pawned, if they have run out of vases to sell.

We went on a guided tour on this visit to see the private rooms and galleries.

We began our tour in the library, which shows the monogram of Henri d’Orléans on the ceiling.  His coat of arms shows that he is from the younger branch of the Bourbon family (Left top to right bottom red slash). Our guide told us that the Institut de France owned the Chantilly Château.

One of the Institut de France’s key provisions is that a member of the Bourbon family must always be in charge of Chantilly.  Basically, the Château collects, restores, cleans, and guards antique furniture, books, decorative arts, and paintings that were owned by various members of the Bourbon family and left to the Institut in wills.

The books displayed in the library always change our guide told us.  On the day that we visited, there were several books on display with Apocalyptic Beasts and Christ on the covers.  A medieval “Roman de la Rose” by Jean de Meung was on display as well.

My favorite room after the library was the “singerie” or “monkey room” decorated with monkeys in Chinese pavilions.  This was the Bourbon family’s classroom.

The Bourbon children began their studies at age four or five.  Children studied mythology, Latin, Greek, the Bible, and mathematics as preschool students.

The children studied for twelve hours a day with one hour for recreation.  Children married in their teen years.

After that, the boys went off to war at the age of sixteen or seventeen.  The young men often died at the age of 25.

Our guide explained the language of equestrian sculptures to us.  The best way to do was to die fighting in battle, which meant the horse was portrayed with the right leg lifted.

The visit to the Château’s chapel was interesting.  The hearts of the Bourbons are kept there in jars similar to Egyptian canopic jars.  The hearts are examined for poisoning.

After the tour, we went outside to take photographs of the Château, using the views of it that appeared in the James Bond movie A View to a Kill.

Laurent and I both had fun exploring Chantilly and walking around this very photogenic town.


By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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