Used by the kings of France from the 12th century, the medieval royal hunting lodge of Fontainebleau, standing at the heart of a vast forest in the Ile-de-France, was transformed, enlarged and embellished in the 16th century by Francois I, who wanted to make a 'New Rome' of it. The chateau was used as a royal hunting ground when King Henri II and Catherine de Medici commissioned architects Philibert Delorme and Jean Bullant

The first great decorated gallery built in France, was known as the “Fontainebleau style” of interior decoration. It combined sculpture, metalwork, painting, stucco and woodwork. King Henri IV had a 1200m canal built in the park at the Chateau Fontainbleau, and ordered the planting of pines, elms and fruit trees. Surrounded by an immense park, the Italianate palace combines Renaissance and French artistic traditions.