Things to see and do Chantilly

Surrounded by water, the castle is initially very photogenic outside. It was constantly enlarged and restored by its lineages of occupants: the Orgemonts, the Montmorencies, the Condés and above all the Duc d'Aumale, who endowed it with priceless collections of works of art, such as Nicolas Poussin's The Massacre of the Innocents. The Cabinet des Livres, one of the richest libraries in Europe, contains some 13,000 volumes and manuscripts. A visit to the large princely apartments and the private apartments of the Duke and Duchess of Aumale is a delight.

This small pavilion supplied the "great waters" of the château, in other words the fountains, waterfalls and fountains that lavishly adorned the gardens of Le Nôtre. In the great cascades of Chantilly, the water seemed to come from everywhere; it was said that an aquatic paradise had been created here! To get to its destination, the water from the pavilion went through a 2.2 km long canal. A great deal of work by the associations has enabled the Great Waters Machine to be put back into motion. Unique, it consists of a large wheel with a diameter of 7.80 m and six pumps.