What is Château de Meudon?
[[File:Restitution grande perspective.jpg|thumb|right|290px|Computor generated image of the building as it would have appeared during the lifetime of the ''[[Grand Dauphin]]''.]] The '''Château de Meudon''' was a former royal residence in [[France]]. It is most commonly associated with the ''[[Grand Dauphin]]'' the only son of [[Louis XIV]] who made it his personal residence. However, on the death of the Dauphin the property reverted to the crown and was used by the famous Duchess of Berry (a granddaughter of Louis XIV) and was later ignored under Louis XV and Louis XVI, but became the official residence of the [[Napoleon II of France|King of Rome]] from 1812, and was occupied by [[Jérôme Bonaparte]] under the [[First Empire]]. The main building was largely destroyed in a fire in 1871, and it is now the site of the Observatoire de Paris-Meudon. ==History== There was originally a small manor on the site which was given to the [[Duchess]] of Étampes, a mistress of [[Francis I of France]].<ref name=Baedeker298>Karl Baedeker, ''Paris and Its Environs: With Routes from London to Paris; Handbook for '' (Leipzig, K. Baedeker; New York, C. Scribner, 1900), p. 298</ref> The family remodelled the building in around 1540 when the property was given to the ''Cardinal de Lorraine''. At the Cardinal's death in 1574, Meudon reverted to the House of Guise until 1654. In 1679, the château was sold by Servien's heir to Louvois, the minister of Louis XIV, who continued to improve it inside and out, until his death in 1691. Above all, he commissioned [[André Le Nôtre]] to construct grand gardens and fountains fed by elaborate hydraulic works. In June 1695, Louis XIV purchased Meudon from the widow of Louvois, with the intention of installing his only legitimate child le Grand Dauphin in the premises.<ref name=Baedeker298/> A brilliant period followed. The Dauphin employed ''Jules Hardouin-Mansart''. Following the death of the Dauphin the property was briefly used by his son [[Louis, Duke of Burgundy, Dauphin of France]]. It was