Fontainebleau

Fontainebleau, town in north central France, in Seine-et-Marne Department, near the Seine River and southeast of Paris. The town, which lies in the famous Fontainebleau Forest, is noted chiefly for its fine Renaissance château, at one time a residence for the kings of France. The château is surrounded by landscaped grounds and large formal gardens. In the early 16th century, Francis I assembled here a large number of artists, known as the School of Fontainebleau, to reconstruct and decorate the château (originally built chiefly in the 13th century). Various other French rulers, notably Henry IV, Louis XIII, Napoleon, Louis XVIII, Louis Philippe, and Napoleon III, spent great sums in further beautifying it. The château was the site of an important visit by Christina, queen of Sweden, after her abdication in 1654. Among the many important state documents that were drawn up at Fontainebleau are the revocation in 1685 of the Edict of Nantes and the decree of abdication signed by Napoleon in 1814. The Germans used the château as a headquarters during World War II, and after the war it served as a seat of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization until 1965. It is now maintained as a public museum. Population (1999) 15,942.