Musée national de la Renaissance - Château d'Écouen

The Château d'Écouen is an architectural gem of the French Renaissance, built to the north of Paris in the 16th century for Anne de Montmorency, constable of France and close to King Francis I. A wealthy lord, an art lover and collector, he surrounded himself with the best artists of his time.

Transformed in 1805 into a secondary school for the daughters of honorees of the Legion of Honor, under the impulse of Napoleon 1st, the Château d'Écouen became, many years later, the only museum in France entirely dedicated to the Renaissance period.

Art, in all its forms

Bringing together the Renaissance collections of the Musée de Cluny, the museum’s thirty rooms retain much of their original decor. Covered with frescoes, the twelve chimneys will surely command your attention. Other highlights include King Henri II's chapel and apartments, which are particularly well preserved.

Inside the museum’s glass cabinets, you’ll discover a large collection of decorative art objects, dating from the 15th to the 17th centuries: weapons, stained glass, Ottoman ceramics from Iznik, gold and silver ware… Take time to study the tapestries and embroideries, including the David and Bathsheba wall hanging that, sheltered from the sun, deploys its impressive 75 meters inside the Psyche Gallery. Numerous temporary exhibitions also punctuate the cultural season.

Free and accessible to all, the Château d'Écouen’s 19-hectare park encourages meandering, with its magnificent formal perspectives and breathtaking views, before making way for the surrounding forest, the vestige of a vast seigniorial hunting domain.