The estate of the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye (Yvelines), listed as a historic monument since 1964, has just received the “national estate” label. It joins the list of 21 “national estates” which includes, among others, the Palais Royal, the Palais de l’Élysée, the Louvre national estate and the Jardin des Tuileries.
The national domains, created by the LCAP law of 2016, are “real estate complexes presenting an exceptional link with the history of the Nation”. Apart from the constructions necessary for the maintenance or enhancement of the site, the parts of a national domain belonging to the State are inalienable, imprescriptible and non-constructible. National domains have the right to manage their image for commercial purposes.
Located 20 minutes from Paris, on the edge of a large forest of 3,500 hectares, the estate extends over 57 landscaped hectares. The 30-meter-wide “grand terrace”, created by André Le Nôtre, seems to extend to infinity over 2 kilometers long. A place for the kings of France to stroll, the French gardens were designed from 1666 to 1682 by Le Nôtre, at the request of Louis XIV. Large geometric flowerbeds, ponds and endless perspectives, the gardens offer a breathtaking view of the entire Seine Valley. The development of the park was abandoned by Louis XIV in 1682, when he chose to set up his residence in Versailles.
The former royal residence (until 1682) is now a National Archaeology Museum. Built under François I by Pierre de Chambiges, from 1539, the castle was enlarged several times by his successors: a cavalry school under Napoleon I then a military penitentiary, it was restored under Napoleon III by Eugène Millet. Created in 1862 by Napoleon III, its purpose is to collect archaeological evidence of the history of the French nation.
The Saint-Germain-en-Laye castle estate, owned by the Ministry of Culture, also has the “remarkable garden” label created in 2004 by the Ministry of Culture.
