Thirty-eight kilometres west of Soissons lies
COMPIÈGNE
, whose reputation as a tourist centre rests on the presence of a vast
royal palace, built at the edge of the Forêt de Compiègne in order that
generations of French kings could play at "being peasants", in Louis
XIV's words. Although the town itself is a bit of a one-horse place
with a bland, Sunday-afternoon feel, it's worth a visit for the opulent
palace interiors, and the car and Second Empire museums.
The Town
Compiègne
itself is plain disappointing, though that shouldn't come as a
surprise, as a platoon of German soldiers burnt it down in 1942 to
provide their commander with evidence of a subjugated community.
Several half-timbered buildings remain on the pedestrianized rue
Napoléon and rue des Lombards, south of the main place de l'Hôtel-de-Ville. The most striking building, as so often in these parts, is the
Hôtel de Ville
- Louis XII Gothic - its ebullient nineteenth-century statuary
including the image of Joan of Arc, who was captured in this town by
the Burgundians before being handed to the English
By the side of the town hall is the
Musée des Figurines
(Tues-Sat 9am-noon & 2-6pm, Sun 2-6pm; closes at 5pm in winter;
€1.83), which features reputedly the world's largest collection of
wafer-thin military figurines in mock-up battles from ancient Greece to
World War II. Also of specialist interest is the Musée Vivenel
, on rue d'Austerlitz (same hours and price), which has one of the best
collections of Greek vases around, especially a series illustrating the
Panathenaic Games from Italy - a welcome dose of classical restraint
and good taste compared with the palace. There is also a section on the
flora and fauna of the Forêt de Compiègne, which includes a wild boar
the size of an armoured car.
But
Compiègne's star attraction is two blocks east of the town hall down
rue des Minimes. For all its pompous excess, there is a certain
fascination about the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Palais National , particularly its interior (guided tours: April-Sept daily except Tues
10am-6pm;
last tour leaves 45min before closing; €5.34, €3.51 for just the Musée
de la Voiture). The lavishness of Marie-Antoinette's rooms, the sheer,
vulgar sumptuousness of the First and Second Empire
and the evidence of the unseemly haste with which Napoléon I moved in,
scarcely a dozen years after the Revolution, are impressive. The palace
also houses the Musée du Second Empire and the Musée de la Voiture
, the latter containing a wonderful array of antique bicycles,
tricycles and fancy aristocratic carriages, as well as the world's
first steam coach. The Théâtre Impérial , planned (but never
finished) by Napoléon III, was finally completed in 1991 at a cost of
some thirty million francs. Originally designed with just two seats for
Napoléon and his wife, it now seats 900 and is regularly used for
concerts.
If you don't want to take the guided tour, a visit to the palace gardens or
petit parc (daily: summer 7.30am-8pm; winter 8am-6.30pm) is a pleasant alternative. Serene and formal, they include a long, straight avenue extending far into the Forêt de Compiègne , which touches the edge of town.
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