Ile de France - North Attractions

The charming little town of Ecouen (pop. 7,084) has a 16th C. Château (1541-1555) which now houses a museum of Renaissance art, the Musée National de la Renaissance. The church of St-Acceul has a Late Gothic choir and fine 16th C. windows.

Ecouen is 20km north of Paris.

Northeast of Paris, on the edge of the forest, is the abbey of Ourscamp, founded in 1129 and enlarged in the 18th C., which is still occupied by monks. The church is now a ruin. The main surviving feature is the magnificent infirmary of 1260, now used as a chapel, with three vaulted aisles 30 m/100ft long.

Royaumont Abbey, north of Paris, was founded in 1233 by Louis IX (St Louis). It was dissolved in 1791 and the church was destroyed, although it was later partly restored. The abbey is now a cultural center. The most notable features are the ruins of the 13th C. church, originally more than 100 m/330ft long, the Gothic cloister, the refectory, the sacristy, the kitchens and the lodging of the last abbot.

This little town (pop. 6,938), north of Paris, was the haunt of many painters in the 19th C. Among those who worked in Auvers-sur-Oise were Cézanne, Corot, Pissarro and Renoir. Vincent van Gogh committed suicide here in 1890, and he and his brother Théo are buried in the cemetery. The 18th C. Château contains a museum devoted to the Impressionists and particularly to van Gogh.

Northwest of Paris - Cergy-Pontoise - has a population of 183430. It has a leisure park, Mirapolis, offering 55 hectares/135 acres of entertainments for both adults and children.

Champlieu, northeast of Paris on the edge of Compiègne Forest, has Gallo-Roman remains (a theater 70m/230ft in diameter with seating for 4,000 spectators, baths and Christian catacombs).

The old town of Crépy-en-Valois (pop. 14,436), northeast of Paris, has a number of handsome medieval houses in Place Gambetta. The church of St-Denis dates from the 12th-16th centuries. The Château de Valois contains a Museum of Archery. There are impressive remains (facade, tower) of the church of St-Thomas (consecrated 1182).

Gisors, strategically situated northwest of Paris at the meeting of three valleys, has a ruined castle which in its day was one of the strongest fortresses in France. It was begun in 1097 and completed in the 12th and 13th centuries. There are remains of its 12 towers and keep.

La Ferté-Milon, situated to the northeast of Paris above the river Ourcq, was the birthplace of the dramatist Jean Racine (1639-1699). Above the town are the ruins of a 14th C. castle (impressive facade with a rectangular tower containing the living quarters and three round towers; monumental gateway with a relief of the Coronation of the Virgin).

Le Bourget, on the northern outskirts of Paris, is one of the city's three airports, established in 1914. Charles Lindbergh landed here in 1927 after his famous transatlantic flight. The Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace has a large collection of material illustrating the development of flying from 1884 to 1945.

Montmorency, north of Paris on the edge of the forest, was the ancestral home of one of the great French noble families. Jean- Jacques Rousseau lived here from 1757 to 1762, writing three of his most important works, the "Nouvelle Héloise", "Emile" and the "Contrat Social"; there is a museum commemorating his stay. The church of St- Martin (16th C.), with beautiful Renaissance windows, was the burial chapel of the Montmorencys.

The museum displays the works of Ernest Hebert. It includes the refined spirit of the second half of the 19th century.

This convent of Poor Clares, Pont Ste Maxence, north of Paris, was founded in 1309. It preserves a number of notable features (the entrance front, with two chimneys, the courtyard, the 16th C cloister, the 14th C dormitory).