The Great War in Chantilly

The grounds of Domaine de Chantilly were sheltered from the combat during the First World War. However, they were vulnerable to attack from the rear, and were under threat of invasion and destruction. 

But what would become of the museum's collections?  What about the buildings in the Domaine? Were the staff at the Condé Museum going to participate in the war effort? This virtual exhibition offers visitors the chance to discover this captivating story of the Great War. 

Gustave Macon paid a visit to the Domaine de Chantilly to visit the officers and to spend time with the soldiers being treated in the hospitals of the town and its surroundings. He shows them the masterpieces of the museum and accompanies them in the park.

When the German soldiers infiltrated Chantilly, some of the collections had already been evacuated from the museum. The troop set up camp on the terrace of the Château d’Enghien, an 18^th century building raised to the right of the Honor Gate. 

The war pushed the army to requisition real estate and land holdings from the Institut de France in Chantilly and its region. Soldiers were everywhere. The Army invested in the territory, and exploited, occupied, and requisitioned the forests.

The Great Stables were also requisitioned. From August 1916 onwards, soldiers were already stationed there. A camouflage section partially occupied the premises on February 1, 1917, and did so for over a year. 

Created in 1834, the racecourse was requisitioned until the summer of 1919. It served as a makeshift airfield. Brazilian pilot Luciano Antonio Vital de Mello Vieira (1892–1918) and Second Lieutenant Charles d'Albert de Luynes, Duke of Chevreuse (1892–1918), crashed there in January 1918.

In 1917, at the end of the racetrack, on the town side, the Petite Pelouse brought together the infrastructure of a camouflage section. .

With the attacks of 1917 and 1918, an increasing number of cars, trucks, and military tanks were traveling along roads that were simply unsuitable. Services of the rear-front line were installed on the grounds and in the forests of the Domaine. 

Owned by the Institut de France, the aerodrome of the Vidamée, between Chantilly and Senlis, inaugurated in April 1911, received a service of British aerostats (balloons), then the French military aviation from the first months of the war. 

It became the base for the GQG protection squadron formed in January 1915. The Army still occupied the Vidamée in September 1918, but the airfield did not survive the war.

His position as a bookbinder at the Château meant that Auguste Goblet was seconded to the Art Evacuation Army Service in November 1917.

The Chantilly forest was an indispensable resource in the organization of war. Forest officers from the Domaine de Chantilly, seconded from the Water and Forests administration, had a special assignment with forest hunting companies that supplied the army with timber. 

The armistice signed, Gustave Macon prepared for the return of the collections. On March 3, 1919, the nineteen cases stored in Toulouse returned to Chantilly. Four other cars arrived at the castle on April 7, and the stained-glass windows were refitted on May 30.