And here I am back at one my all time favorite in my belle France! Yes again the first castle I visited with my then girlfriend as she was from the region, and it has been a blast since then, one for the memories of always now. Let me update this older post and tell you about a wonderful gallery call the galerie de Diane at the Château de Fontainebleau!
Just not to be biased I am friends of these castles Versailles, Fontainebleau, Vaux-le-Vicomte, and Chantilly. I have written many posts on my souvenir favorite Fontainebleau, for the record, the first castle I ever visited in France in 1990 with my now late dear wife Martine. Again Fontainebleau is in department 77 Seine-et-Marne in the ïle de France region east of Paris. I like, however, to show you some of its jewels inside and one of them is the Galerie de Diane or Diane’s Gallery! This is my contribution to its fame!
Rebuilt on the orders of Napoleon I, the Galerie de Diane or Diane’s gallery is the longest room in the castle. Its decor replaces the compositions relating the myth of Diane that had been carried out under Henri IV after the construction of the gallery, located above the gallery of the deer. The ceiling painted under the restoration replaces the decor of the second school of Fontainebleau. As for its development in the library, it dates from Napoleon III.
The library of the Château de Fontainebleau, is located in the Galerie de Diane. This golden gallery, formerly known as the Queen’s Gallery, connecting the Queen’s apartments and the Aviary’s office, 80 meters long and about 10 meters wide, was first decorated with scenes illustrating the myth of Diane, that of Apollo , and the king’s victories, on the wooden attics of the walls and the ceiling of the broken vault. Its former decor is particularly known to us thanks to a rich album watercolour of percussion, and fragments of paintings and panelling, preserved today in the castle. During the French revolution, Diane’s gallery became a prison in which, among other things, Trinitarian clerics were incarcerated. Damaged, it was restored first under Napoleon I who abolished the decorations of the 17C, then during the Restoration period, when its vault was adorned in the style of the painter David such as Diane on her chariot going to Endymion. These decorations are complemented by 24 historical scenes in the troubadour style , notably Charlemagne passes the Alps , 8 of which have come as donations. Used as a banquet hall by king Louis-Philippe, it was transformed into a library under the Second Empire, in 1858, as above by Napoleon III.
The official Château de Fpntainebleau on its galleries including Diane: https://www.chateaudefontainebleau.fr/en/explore-the-castle-and-gardens/fontainebleau-rooms/the-grands-apartments/nineteenth-century-galleries/
The Friends of the Château de Fontainebleau on the Diane’s gallery: https://www.amischateaufontainebleau.org/la-galerie-de-diane-01032017/
The Friends of the Château de Fontainebleau on the restoration of the globe in the library: https://www.amischateaufontainebleau.org/restauration-du-globe-terrestre-de-la-galerie-de-diane/
Hope you enjoy the post and do look out for the Galerie de Diane when visiting the Château de Fontainebleau, it is gorgeous!
And remember , happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 
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