A historic monument since 1988, it is open to the public. The château's art gallery, the Musée Condé, houses one of France's finest collections of paintings. It specialises in French paintings and book illuminations of the 15th and 16th centuries.
History
Original construction
The Château de Chantilly at the time of the Grand Condé
The chapel of the Hearts of the Princes of CondéThe Château's library
The original mansion was destroyed during the French Revolution. It was repaired modestly by Louis Henri II, Prince of Condé, but the entire property was confiscated from the Orléans family between 1853 and 1872, during which interval it was owned by Coutts, an English bank. Chantilly was entirely rebuilt, between 1875 and 1882, by Henri d'Orléans, duc d'Aumale (1822–1897).[1] The new château met with mixed reviews. Boni de Castellane summed up one line of thought: "What is today styled a marvel is one of the saddest specimens of the architecture of our era — one enters on the second floor and descends to the salons". In 1889, the Chateau was bequeathed to the Institut de France as a price for the Duc d'Aumale's return from political exile.[1]
Subsequently, in response to an appeal for the restoration of the château, The Aga Khan donated €40 million, accounting for more than half of the €70 million needed by the Institut de France to complete the project.[4] In 2008, the World Monuments Fund completed the restoration of the Grande Singerie, a salon with paintings on the walls of monkeys engaged in human activities, once a fashionable salon motif, but with few examples surviving today.[5]
The Molteni Campagnolo cycling team, including star rider Eddy Merckx, are seen riding past the chateau towards the beginning of Jorgen Leth's seminal documentary, A Sunday In Hell, on the way to the start line of the 1976 Paris-Roubaix race.[8]
The château and the Great Stables were featured in the 1985 James Bond film A View to a Kill, as the home of villainous Max Zorin (played by Christopher Walken) which was being infiltrated by Bond (played for the last time by Roger Moore) in his quest to find out more about Zorin, who had already aroused suspicions of MI6 with various business activities, and ultimately eliminate him.[9]