The Lady of Brassempouy
An ivory face about 25,000 years old — among the oldest carved faces known.
CC BY-SA 3.0 · Georges Boissaye du Bocage — Public domain · frederic masson — CC BY-SA 3.0
No — they are entirely different. Versailles is about royal display, gardens and enormous scale. Saint-Germain is an older, smaller château whose content is an archaeology museum rather than furnished royal apartments. Go to Versailles if the palace is your aim, and Saint-Germain if ancient history interests you or you want a far quieter day.
About twenty-five to thirty-five minutes on RER line A from central Paris stations, with the terminus directly in front of the château so there is no extra walking. That makes it among the easiest half-day trips around Paris.
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A royal château west of Paris that was the principal residence of the kings of France before Louis XIV moved the court to Versailles, today housing the National Archaeology Museum. The royal history is heavy: Louis XIV was born here, several kings lived here, and it was the court's preferred seat for decades. When Versailles was completed the château lost its standing, and that is precisely what spared it from later major alteration. The museum inside covers France from the Stone Age to the Merovingian period and is the country's primary collection for prehistory. Among its best-known pieces is the Lady of Brassempouy, a small face carved in ivory around twenty-five thousand years old and considered one of the oldest known representations of a human face. The terrace garden in front of the château runs for two kilometres and looks over the Seine valley with Paris on the horizon, and it is free. Practical points: reach it on RER line A directly from central Paris, with the station in front of the château. A comfortable half day.
An ivory face about 25,000 years old — among the oldest carved faces known.
The main royal seat until Louis XIV moved — and he was born here.
A two-kilometre garden overlooking the Seine valley and Paris.
Saint-Germain-en-Laye, west of Paris