Saint-Germain-en-Laye Things to Do

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a great historical castle back is the place of birth of Louis XIV, and now it is a superb antiquities museum of artifacts from the entire Paris region of ile de France. And just walks away from city center Saint Germain en Laye with its 700 stores of delights,and plenty of eateries, direct connection to paris on the RER A train.

Very near me, was just there today, so photos are as of March 24th 2012, but come here often, the market is second only to my Notre Dame at Versailles, but its great, and cheese shop here is my family's favorite.
If you need details of a visit let me know. this is another webpage from the national monuments of France,
http://www.rmn.fr/english/les-musees-et-leurs-expositions-238/national-archaeology-museum-270/

Opposite the Chateau we noticed a rather lovely Parish Church. This Church turned out to be quite interesting.

Why?
This Church was commissioned by Louis XIV in 1683, and was built with its back to the castle. In 1765, Louis XV decided the Church had to be rebuilt because of this. In 1824 during the digging of the new foundations three small lead boxes were discovered.

I quote " The first of these had upon it an inscription identifying the contents as the praecordia of King James II and VII. The second and third boxes are presumed to contain second and third boxes are presumed to contain the praecordia of his wife Queen Mary Beatrice and of their daughter Princess Louise."

In 1824,the remains of King James, his wife, and daughter were re-interred and the White Marble monument can be seen on the right as you enter the Church.

One of the inscription's reads..............
"To royal remains, royal piety.
Whoever you are who look upon this funerary monument
think upon the changes of human fortune.
Great in prosperity, greater in adversity,
James II, King of England
loosened the signs of hardship and sad destiny
by a pious and quiet death
in this city
September 16, 1701.
Some of the more noble parts of his body
are here preserved hidden."

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Another part of the Museum we were able to visit was Saint Louis Chapel.

The chapel of St. Louis is Gothic and part of the old castle.
This Chapel once housed many important pieces including the Holy Crown, the True Cross fragment, relics of the Virgin Mary, the Holy Lance, the Holy Sponge and the Mandylion.

During the different "ages," treasures were melted down and valuable stones sold. Then, in another age, there was a ban on conserving relics and all other sacred symbols with links to the kings. Luckily, some were saved and are now in the Cathedral treasury of Notre Dame.

Built in 1245, it is thought to be one of the earliest "High Gothic" buildings in this area. It had a large number of windows making it very light, and outside there were some tombs. It was in very good condition for being such an old building, and I couldn't help thinking of all those Kings and important people who had been to Church here all those years ago.

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It was in 1862, that Napoleon III decided that Chateau Germain en Laye would become an Antiquities Museum.
As we were there, we decided to go inside the Chateau and visit the Archeological Museum. The Museum had an excellent display of approx 30,000 pieces making it one of the biggest in Europe.
There were pieces on display from Paleolithic times [8000BC], Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman Gaul and the Middle Ages.
It was amazing to see these old pieces, many still in very good condition.
If you are interested in Archeology, then this Museum would be of interest to you.
More information is on their website.

Open Monday to Friday
9 - 12.30pm & 1.30 - 5pm.
ADMISSION IN 2011.....6 euros

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Chateau de Saint-Germain Castle is an imposing sight in the Town with the same name.

There is quite a history to this Chateau.

In the beginning, an old fort that dated from around the year 1238 stood in this location, then King Charles V constructed the old chateau in 1348 on the original foundations. This Castle was demolished and rebuilt by Francois I, only leaving the Saint-Chapelle and the keep of the old castle. By the 18th century, this had also fallen into disrepair. Napoleon III had the chapel and chateau restored between the years of 1862 and 1867 and also set up a museum called the Musee des Antiquites Nationales.

Two Kings, King Henry II and King Louis XIV were born in the Chateau de Saint-Germain.

The gardens are very nice, and no wonder why, they were designed by the same person who designed Chateau Versailles and Chateau Chantilly. They disappear down to the River Seine, with distant views of Paris. These gardens, were some of the first Italian style gardens in France, later, the French formal garden originated.

The Chateau de Saint-Germain was constructed before the Chateau de Versailles and was one of the main residences of the French Court before they moved to Versailles Castle.
We walked around the outside of nearly all of the Chateau. It does have a moat, but instead of water, it is nicely mown grass.

Since 1862, it has been a Museum.

The gardens are FREE to wander around

The Church of Saint-Louis-Saint-Germain was built in the period around 1800. It was built near the Chateau and the RER, next to what is now the Place Ch. de Gaulle. This is also next to what in 1834 was the first railroad in France which ran between Paris and St. Germain en Laye.

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The Vieux Chateau was rebuilt in 1540 and today is the National Antiquities Museum with a large part of the beautiful Gardens still in use. The museum begins with paleolithic objects of great interest and ends on the upper level in the Merovingian period. It contains every early civilizations and has most interesting collections related to the other western groups besides Greek and Roman, especially the Gauls and pre-dynastic Egypt.