Château de Pierrefonds

About this place

The Château de Pierrefonds is a medieval castle in the village of Pierrefonds, on the south-eastern edge of the Compiègne forest in the Oise department of northern France, about 71 km in a straight line north-east of central Paris. A castle stood here in the 12th century. From 1393 to 1407 Louis I, Duke of Orléans and brother of Charles VI, had it rebuilt by the court architect Jean le Noir. In 1617 it was besieged and taken by royal troops, and its demolition was begun but never finished, leaving a ruin for more than two centuries. Napoleon I bought it in 1810, and from 1857 Napoleon III had the architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc restore it as a romantic vision of a medieval fortress. Today it shows nearly every feature of medieval military architecture: eight great towers, a drawbridge, covered walkways along the walls and a vast inner courtyard. Inside, the restored halls are decorated in Viollet-le-Duc's colourful Gothic Revival style. The castle rises above a small lake and the village, and the views from the road on the approach are the finest. It is run by the Centre des monuments nationaux, and the Compiègne forest around it is good for walks and cycling.