Fontainebleau, << FON tihn `bloh` or fawn tehn BLOH >> (pop. 14,907), a small city in northern France, is famous for a magnificent château (castle) that stands in a nearby forest. The city lies about 35 miles (56 kilometers) southeast of Paris.
King Francis I transformed a medieval castle into the château of Fontainebleau in the early 1500’s. King Louis XIII, who reigned from 1610 to 1643, was responsible for much of its construction. French kings continued to add to and remodel the château as late as the 1700’s. As a result, the structure displays a number of architectural and decorative styles. It has many paintings and elegant carvings by the Italian artists Francesco Primaticcio and Rosso Fiorentino. The ballroom and the Francis I gallery feature especially impressive works of art. The château also has a small museum of Chinese art objects collected by Empress Eugénie, the wife of Emperor Napoleon III.
Many French kings used the château of Fontainebleau as a summer home. In 1814, Emperor Napoleon I gave up the throne of France at the château.
