Chateau d'Ecouen National Museum of the Renaissance

Écouen Castle, located 20 km north of Paris and overlooking the beautiful plain of the country of France, launched at the meeting of Chantilly forest, now houses the exceptional collections of the National Museum of the Renaissance.  Owned by a great lord of the Renaissance, Anne de Montmorency, who grew up in the privacy of François the First and then thrived under the protection of Henry II, Écouen is unlike any other: it includes in its stones the ambitions and achievements of a powerful man who was also a patron of the aesthetic and had a passion for art; it embodied the modern vision of a lord who had waged war in Italy and promised to return one day to his land.

The architecture of Chateau d’Ecouen reflects the history of changes in the architecture, in France, in the sixteenth century.  We must first imagine that once stood on this site the ancestral castle of Bouchard de Montmorency, an old family that had the honour to serve the kings of France since 1000AD.  Of this first building, we know nothing, except that, in 1531, Anne de Montmorency, heir to the great legacy of her father William, a powerful character and Marshal of France, decided to raze the original building and replace it with a home worthy of the family’s status.  The result is preserved: the building faces east towards a possible invasion and close to access to Paris, surrounded by forests and game, on a hilltop overlooking the plain of France, in a position both pleasant and impressive.  Construction work lasted 18 years, from 1538 to 1555, which is relatively short for the time.  No doubt, the somewhat impatient of Anne de Montmorency, coupled with her colossal fortune, helped to greatly accelerate the pace of the work!
Écouen Castle is located some 18 km from Charles de Gaulle and Le Bourget airport.
Château d'Ecouen
95440 Ecouen
Tel. +33 1 34 38 38 50

Area Activities

351 Av. du Bois de la Pie, CS 42048 Paris Nord 2, Roissy CDG Cedex, France, 95912