The Château of Fontainebleau, which is both within the town and in the midst of a vast forest, is an accumulation of buildings put up by at different times by different sovereigns : the visitor is faced with a seemingly haphazard medley of splendid Renaissance and classical architecture.

The author, curator of the Fontainebleau museum, brings to life the history of the Château, and guides us through the labyrinth with a host of stories about the people who lived there.

Like all the works in the "Portes Ouvertes" series, this book also covers the environment of the Château. The reader will discover the forest and its pleasures, and the town close by, whose frontages and portals also bear witness to the prestigious past of Fontainebleau.

And in the environs there are three fine châteaux to be discovered, whose architecture owes much to the influence of Fontainebleau : Bourron-Marlotte, Courances and Fleury.