Page 167 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - France

Flowers and birds decorating Delft tiles at Château de Rambouille

ÎLE-DE-FRANCE

Set at the heart of France, with Paris as its hub,
the Île-de-France extends well beyond the densely
populated suburbs of the city. The region was a
favourite with French royalty after François I trans-
formed Fontainebleau into a Renaissance palace in
1528. Louis XIV kept the Île-de-France as the
political axis of the country when he started
building Versailles in 1661. This Neo-Classical
château was created by the combined genius
of Le Nôtre, Le Vau, Le Brun and Jules Hardouin-
Mansart, and stands as a monument to the power
of the Sun King. The excessive displays of opulence
of such châteaux were brought to a violent end
during the Revolution of 1789, but many were
spared, including nearby Château de Rambouille,
which gained prominence in the Naopleonic era.
An industrial boom in the 19th century was fol-
lowed by a number of large-scale construction
projects in the 20th cen tury, including blocks of
social housing and the Périphérique. Today the
varied neighbourhoods of the suburbs are home
to the vast majority of Paris’s citizens.
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