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The Château de Vincennes is a 14th and 17th century French royal castle in the town of Vincennes, to the east of Paris, now a suburb. Like other more famous chateaux it had its origins in a hunting lodge, set up for Louis VII about 1150 in the forest of Vincennes. In the 13th century, Philip Augustus and Louis IX erected a more substantial manor: Louis IX is reputed to have departed from Vincennes on the crusade from which he did not return. To strengthen the site, a donjon tower, 52 meters high, the tallest medieval fortified structure of Europe was added by the Valois Philippe VI, a work that was started about 1337.
Vincennes was more than the grim fortress: Philippe III (in 1274) and Philippe IV (in 1322) were each married there and three 14th-century kings were born at Vincennes: Louis X (1316), Philippe V (1322) and Charles IV (1328).
In the Chateau of Vincennes the relics of the Crown of Thorns were temporarily housed while the Sainte-Chapelle was being readied to receive them. A fragment that remained behind received its own chapel at Vincennes, which survives. Henri IV spent a sojourn imprisoned at Vincennes.
In the 17th century the architect Louis Le VauLouis Le Vau ( 1612 1670) was a French architect who worked for Louis XIV of France. His most notable works include the Palace of Versailles and his collaboration with Claude Perrault on the Louvre. He was responsible, with Andre Le Notre and Charles Le B built for Louis XIVHyacinthe Rigaud (1701 Louis XIV (Louis-Dieudonne) ( 5 September 1638 1 September 1715) reigned as King of France and King of Navarre from 14 May 1643 until his death. He was a minor when he inherited the Crown; he did not actually assume personal control a pair of isolated ranges mirroring one another across a parterreA parterre is a construction consisting of a flower garden and planting beds. The paths of a parterre garden are arranged to form a pleasing pattern. The word comes from the French language where it is used in the same sense but also has several other mea to one side of the keep, suited for the Queen MotherAnne of Austria ( September 22, 1601 January 20, 1666) was Queen Consort of France and Regent for her son, Louis XIV of France. During her relatively brief reign, Cardinal Mazarin served as France's chief minister. She was born in Valladolid, Spain, as th and Cardinal MazarinJules Mazarin born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino but best known as Cardinal Mazarin ( July 14 1602 March 9 1661) served as the chief minister of France from 1642, until his death. Mazarin succeeded his mentor, Cardinal Richelieu. Mazarin's early military and, but rebuilding was never pursued once Versailles occupied all attentions. Some splendid apartments show the earliest phase of Louis XIV style, before the example of Vaux-le-VicomteOnce a small chateau located between the royal residences of Vincennes and Chateau de Fontainebleau in France, the estate of Vaux-le-Vicomte was purchased by a 26yearold parliamentarian, Nicolas Fouquet in 1641. Fifteen years later, Fouquet was King Louis presented the Sun King with a worthy model. The unlucky builder of Vaux, the minister Nicholas Fouquet found himself transferred to Vincennes, to much less comfortable lodgings.
Abandoned in the 18th century, the chateau still served as a state prison, which housed the marquis de Sade, Diderot and Mirabeau, then in 1796 an arms manufactory, suiting it to its current occupants, the historical sections of the French Armed Services.
The execution of the duc d'Enghien was effected at the chateau in 1804, and during the Nazi occupation, 30 hostages were murdered on August 20, 1944.
The park was landscaped in the English landscape style in the 19th century. In 1860 Napoleon III, having employed Viollet-le-Duc to restore the keep and the chapel, gave the Bois de Vincennes (995 hectares in extent) and its chateau to Paris as a public park.