Fontainebleau, a town in France, in the department of Seine-et-Marne, is beautifully situated in the midst of a forest, near the left bank of the Seine, 37 miles SE. of Paris, with which it is connected both by steamers on the Seine and by railway. It furnishes a great deal of wine and fruit for the capital, and has manufactures of porcelain, and a sandstone quarry. Pop. (1891) 14,078.
Fontainebleau is chiefly famous for its château, or pleasure-palace of the kings of France, and the forest that surrounds it. The forest covers an extent of 65 sq. miles, and presents much fine scenery. The château is said to have been originally founded by Robert the Good toward the end of the 10th century. It was rebuilt in 1169 by Louis VII., of whom and of Philip Augustus it was a favourite residence, and was enlarged by Louis XI. and his successors. After being allowed to fall into decay, it was repaired and embellished by Francis I., by Henry IV., and by Napoleon I. Almost every king has added something in the way of enlargement or embellishment, so that it bears the character and style of almost every century. Louis-Philippe had all the paintings renovated, and the apartments restored in the taste of the 16th century. It was the residence of Christina of Sweden after her abdication, and here in 1657 she caused her secretary Monaldeschi to be executed. Under Louis XIV. it was occupied by Madame de Montespan, and under Louis XV. by Madame du Barry. Here Charles V. was entertained in 1539; here the decree for the revocation of the Edict of Nantes was signed in 1685; and here in the following year Condé died. In the château, too, Pope Pius VII. was detained a prisoner for nearly two years by Napoleon, and here this emperor signed the act of his abdication in 1814. In the forest Millet and other artists have lived and found their subjects.