Château de Vincennes

Château de Vincennes

A towering royal fortress

On the eastern edge of Paris, beside a great park, rises the Château de Vincennes — and the first thing visitors notice is its enormous keep, a slender stone tower more than fifty metres tall. It is the highest medieval fortified tower in all of Europe. Surrounded by a ring of strong walls and its own moat, the keep made Vincennes one of the mightiest royal strongholds in France, a fortress-palace just outside the capital.

From hunting lodge to fortress

Like Fontainebleau, Vincennes began as a royal retreat in a forest rich with game, where medieval kings came to hunt. Saint Louis, the famous and pious King Louis IX, loved Vincennes and, according to tradition, would sit beneath an oak tree there to give judgements to his people.

In the 1300s, during the dangers of the Hundred Years' War, the kings transformed Vincennes into a powerful fortress. They built the great keep as a secure royal residence and stronghold, where the king could live, store his treasure and shelter safely behind thick walls. Around it rose a vast walled enclosure with towers and a gatehouse.

A keep full of secrets

The mighty keep of Vincennes was like a self-contained castle within the castle. It held the king's apartments on its upper floors, a study where royal documents and treasures were kept, and strong rooms below. Climbing its spiral stairs, one passes through chamber after chamber, each with thick walls and narrow windows.

Beside the keep stands the elegant royal chapel, the Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes, with its tall windows of coloured glass, built in imitation of the famous Sainte-Chapelle in Paris.

Palace, prison and arsenal

Over the centuries Vincennes had many roles. It was a royal residence, and later, when the court moved to grander palaces, it became a state prison, where famous and important prisoners were held in its keep — including writers, nobles and political figures. Their carved messages can still be seen on some of the walls.

Later still, Vincennes became a great military arsenal and barracks, and it played a part in France's wars right up to modern times. Sadly, part of the fortress was damaged during the Second World War.

Restored and protected

In modern times the Château de Vincennes has been carefully restored, especially its towering keep and its beautiful chapel, and it is now open to the public as one of the most important medieval monuments near Paris.

Visiting today

Visitors can climb the great keep — the tallest of its kind in Europe — to explore its royal chambers and enjoy views over Paris, admire the stained glass of the royal chapel, and walk the ramparts of the vast enclosure. Towering, historic and easy to reach from the heart of Paris, the Château de Vincennes is a remarkable survivor of the age of fortified royal palaces.