Saint-Germain Forest
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The Forest of Saint-Germain-en-Laye or ''Forêt de Saint-Germain-en-Laye'', is a dominial forest of 35 km2 in area which lies in a meander of the River
Seine ) , mouth_location = Le Havre/Honfleur , mouth_coordinates = , mouth_elevation = , progression = , river_system = Seine basin , basin_size = , tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle , tributarie ...
, France. Situated 20 km West of Paris, between Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Maisons-Laffitte, Achères and Poissy, It is situated entirely within the commune of Saint-Germain. Essentially composed of oak (53%) and
beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...
(18%), it is now a forest bordered by built up areas and divided by communication links: route nationales, A14 and the railway line from Paris to
Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Fête des Loges is, every year, organised in an open space near Saint-Germain.


History

The Forest of Laye is a relic of the ancient Forest of Yveline. Very early it became a royal domain and hunting grounds of the Kings of France who resided at the
Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye The Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye () is a former royal palace in the commune of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, in the ''département'' of Yvelines, about 19 km west of Paris, France. Today, it houses the ''musée d'Archéologie nationale'' (Nati ...
. Henry IV and Louis XIII of France often used the forest for
fox hunting Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of ho ...
. Louis XIV also walked the forest and hired an architect,
Andr̩ Le N̫tre Andr̩ Le N̫tre (; 12 March 1613 Р15 September 1700), originally rendered as Andr̩ Le Nostre, was a French landscape architect and the principal gardener of King Louis XIV of France. He was the landscape architect who designed the gar ...
, to build a terrace bordering the forest dominating the valley of the River
Seine ) , mouth_location = Le Havre/Honfleur , mouth_coordinates = , mouth_elevation = , progression = , river_system = Seine basin , basin_size = , tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle , tributarie ...
in 1663. He also built a high wall, finished by Napoléon, encircling the forest to prevent
game A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...
from escaping the woods. After the abandonment of the forest of Saint-Germain in 1682 by Louis XIV, Charles X resumed the hunting tradition of Saint-Germain. Napoléon III purchased land to the South to link the forest of Saint-Germain with the Forest of Marly. The arrival of the railway in 1835, then the development of the car, considerably increased use of the forest. Since the middle of the 19th century, the forest has lost 8 km2 of its surface area. *In 1811 the Légion d'Honneur camp was built. *In 1856,
Napoléon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...
built a 0.25 km2 large firing range. *In 1971, the French Army built a military base extending the firing range by 0.6 km2. The camp des Loges now occupies 0.5 km2. *In 1889, the City of Paris purchased 4.3 km2 to the North of Achères to install a sewage system; the site is now home to the largest sewage plant in ÃŽle-de-France. *In 1882, the Achères
marshalling yard A classification yard (American and Canadian English (Canadian National Railway use)), marshalling yard (British, Hong Kong, Indian, Australian, and Canadian English (Canadian Pacific Railway use)) or shunting yard (Central Europe) is a railway ya ...
as well as an engine shed were built in the heart of the forest. *The A14 motorway was opened in 1996. The then president of France,
François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...
, forced the builders to bury 1.5 km of the motorway in a tunnel and prevented the construction of a motorway exit intended to serve the city of Saint-Germain in order to reduce traffic in the forest.


See also

*
List of forests in France Metropolitan France contains a total of of tree coverage, with considered to be forestry by the National Forest Inventory (IFN). Of those , consist of leafy forests while the remaining consist of evergreen forests. The majority of forestry ...


References

{{Authority control Saint-Germain-en-Laye Geography of Yvelines Tourist attractions in ÃŽle-de-France Tourist attractions in Yvelines