Fontainebleau

Fontainebleau (fôNtenblō') [key], town (1990 pop. 18,037), Seine-et-Marne dept., N France, SE of Paris. It is a favorite spring and autumn resort and was long a royal residence, chiefly because of the excellent hunting in the vast Forest of Fontainebleau. Louis IV resided in Fontainebleau, and Philip IV and Louis XIII were born there. Francis I built the magnificent palace, the chief glory of French Renaissance architecture and the scene of many historic events. Francesco Primaticcio and Sebastiano Serlio, the principal artists of the palace, came to be known, along with their fellow artisans, as the first school of Fontainebleau. In the palace Louis XIV signed (1685) the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, Pope Pius VII was imprisoned (1812–14), and Napoleon signed his first abdication (1814). Fontainebleau also has a military museum. The town was headquarters of the military branch of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) from 1945 to 1965.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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