Ecouen
- The national museum of the Renaissance offers a harmonious framework to the collections of the Renaissance in reserve with the museum of Cluny.
The Château d'Ecouen was built for Anne de Montmorency, High Constable of Francois 1er (who also erected Chantilly). Located about twenty kilometres north of Paris, on a rise overlooking the plain of the Ile de France, it is one of the finest châteaux built in France during the Renaissance. Furthermore, it is one of the few that has survived with little mutilation, complete with part of its original decoration (painted fireplaces, ceremonial paving, ceilings and friezes…). It is furnished with one of the most prestigious Renaissance collections of furniture, ceramics, enamels, glass, stained glass, gold and silver, paintings, weapons and tapestries, including an outstanding tapestry set recounting the History of David and Bathsheba.
