3-028-616 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Chateau of St. Germain-en-Laye, 1870. View of the '...the first Chateau of St. Germain dates as far back as the year 1120...in 1346, after the battle of Crecy, it was completely destroyed by our own countrymen...It remained in a state of ruin till the year 1368, when it was rebuilt by Charles V., who used it both as a country residence and a fortress...[In the 17th century the chateau] became the residence of Queen Henrietta of England, the widow of Charles I...From 1689 to 1731 the chateau was inhabited by James II. of England. In 1793 it was transformed into a prison...[and] in 1798 it again became a fortress. In 1809 it was made a cavalry school. In 1815 it was used as a barracks by the allied armies...In 1826,...50,000f. were spent in restoring the chapel, which had been completely ransacked during the revolution...In 1862 the Emperor decided that the building should be restored in the Renaissance style - that is to say, as it was built by Francois I.; and M. Eugène Millet was named to superintend the works...about one third of the building is now completed. It is estimated that it will take another ten years to finish the entire chateau, and that the cost of the restoration will amount to between £160,000 and £200,000 sterling'. From "Illustrated London News, 1870.