The Parc de Saint-Cloud (; Park of Saint-Cloud), officially the Domaine national de Saint-Cloud (; National Estate of Saint-Cloud), is a ''domaine national'' (national estate) located mostly within the

Saint-Cloud Saint-Cloud () is a French commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France, from the centre of Paris. Like other communes of Hauts-de-Seine such as Marnes-la-Coquette, Neuilly-sur-Seine and Vaucresson, Saint-Cloud is one of France's wealthie ...

commune, in the

Hauts-de-Seine Hauts-de-Seine (; ) is a department in the Île-de-France region of France. It covers Paris's western inner suburbs. It is bordered by Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne to the east, Val-d'Oise to the north, Yvelines to the west and ...

department, southwest of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France.

The park, which covers , was a nature reserve on the left bank of the

Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...

until 1923. It was centred around the former

Château de Saint-Cloud The château de Saint-Cloud () was a château in France, built on a site overlooking the Seine at Saint-Cloud in Hauts-de-Seine, about west of Paris. The gardens survive, and the estate is now known as the Parc de Saint-Cloud. The château was ...

, home of

Philippe I, Duke of Orléans ''Monsieur'' Philippe I, Duke of Orléans (21 September 1640 – 9 June 1701) was the younger son of King Louis XIII of France and Anne of Austria, and the younger brother of King Louis XIV. He was the founder of the House of Orléans, a ...

(1640–1701), which was destroyed by French bombing in 1870 during the

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...

after the Prussians had made a base of it. The château was the meeting place of the

Council of Five Hundred The Council of Five Hundred () was the lower house of the legislature of the French First Republic under the Constitution of the Year III. It operated from 31 October 1795 to 9 November 1799 during the French Directory, Directory () period of t ...

and

Council of Ancients The Council of Ancients or Council of Elders () was a house of the French bicameral legislature under the Constitution of the Year III, during the period commonly known as the Directory (French: ''Directoire''), from 22 August 1795 until 9 Nov ...

on 10 November 1799, the day following

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

Coup of 18 Brumaire The Coup of 18 Brumaire () brought Napoleon Bonaparte to power as First Consul of the French First Republic. In the view of most historians, it ended the French Revolution and would soon lead to the coronation of Napoleon as Emperor of the Fr ...

. On 9 November 1994 the Parc de Saint-Cloud was classified as a

historical monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...

. In 2005 it was awarded the Notable Garden status. The park is operated as a ''domaine national'' under the

Ministry of Culture Ministry of Culture may refer to: * Ministry of Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Sports (Albania) * Ministry of Culture (Algeria) * Ministry of Culture (Argentina) * Minister for the Arts (Australia) * Ministry of Culture (Azerbaijan)Ministry o ...

Centre des monuments nationaux Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...

(CMN).

History

The park is located on the site of the

, a residence of royal and imperial families from the 16th century. After

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...

declared war on the

Prussian Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, the House of Hohenzoll ...

s, the site was occupied by a Prussian force which used the high outcropping to shell Paris. Counter-fire from the French caused the building to burn on 13 October 1870, as well as considerable damage to the town of Saint-Cloud."Le château de Saint-Cloud : une histoire mouvementée"
''domaine-saint-cloud.fr''. The structure was completely razed in August 1892, politicians under the Third Republic believing it represented a reminder of France's imperial past. Only a few outbuildings remain from the original structure. The park contains a Le Nôtre-designed garden in the French style, an English landscape garden, in addition to

Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette (; ; Maria Antonia Josefa Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last List of French royal consorts, queen of France before the French Revolution and the establishment of the French First Republic. She was the ...

's rose garden. The park showcases a panoramic view of Paris called "La Lanterne" or the "Lantern of Demosthenes". In 1999 a winter storm heavily damaged the park's forests. Some of the fallen trees' remains were later used for an art exhibition at the

Jardin du Luxembourg The Jardin du Luxembourg (), known in English as the Luxembourg Garden, colloquially referred to as the Jardin du Sénat (Senate Garden), is located in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France. The creation of the garden began in 1612 when Mar ...

's Orangerie in Paris. View on Boulogne-Billancourt from Parc de Saint-Cloud 140411 1

Kandinsky series

Painter

Wassily Kandinsky Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky ( – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter and art theorist. Kandinsky is generally credited as one of the pioneers of abstract art, abstraction in western art. Born in Moscow, he spent his childhood in ...

(1866–1944) painted a Parc de Saint-Cloud series in the early 20th century, before he became firmly associated with the

abstract art Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a Composition (visual arts), composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. ''Abstract art'', ''non-figurative art'', ''non- ...

movement."Parc de Saint Cloud (représenté)"

Centre Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...

Buildings and points of interest

Parc de Saint-Cloud avec vue sur la Tour Montparnasse

*The Musée historique du château de Saint-Cloud: a five-room museum dedicated to the destroyed château *The

École Normale Supérieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...

(ENS): located in the Pavillon Valois *The

International Bureau of Weights and Measures The International Bureau of Weights and Measures (, BIPM) is an List of intergovernmental organizations, intergovernmental organisation, through which its 64 member-states act on measurement standards in areas including chemistry, ionising radi ...

(Bureau International des Poids et Mesures, BIPM): it has its headquarters in the Pavillon de Breteuil; the building contains copies of the metre and kilogramme standards.

Public transport access

The park is accessible via

Pont de Sèvres The pont de Sèvres is a bridge above the Seine that links the cities of Boulogne-Billancourt and Sèvres, in France. The current bridge was put in service in 1963. The bridge is also above the RD 1 and RD 7 roads, and the Île-de-France t ...

and

Boulogne–Pont de Saint-Cloud station Boulogne–Pont de Saint-Cloud () is the western terminus of Line 10 of the Paris Métro. The station lies under the Rond-Point Rhin et Danube, east of the Pont de Saint-Cloud over the Seine, in the suburban commune of Boulogne-Billancourt. The ...

Paris Métro The Paris Métro (, , or , ), short for Métropolitain (), is a rapid transit system serving the Paris metropolitan area in France. A symbol of the city, it is known for its density within the capital's territorial limits, uniform architectur ...

stations, on the right bank of the

Île-de-France tramway Line 2 Île-de-France tramway Line 2 (T2; French language, French: ''Ligne 2 du tramway d'Île-de-France'') is part of the modern Tramways in Île-de-France, tram network of the Île-de-France region of France. It connects the Communes of France, commu ...

runs along the eastern limit of the park, with stops at Parc de Saint-Cloud and Musée de Sèvres.

References

External links

Domaine national de Saint-Cloud, official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parc De Saint-Cloud