It forms a small palace under a platform of arcades, sheltered from view by a hill that visually separates it from the castle, as shown on a print by Israel Silvestre representing the grotto.

[11] For the Cardinal of Lorraine, Primaticcio executed many decorations in his great palace called La Grotte (the grotto), of so extraordinary an amplitude that it recalled the baths of antiquity, because of the infinite number and size of its galleries, staircases, and public and private apartments.

In 1639, Jacques Dubreuil boasted of Meudon's stairs and turrets: "The garden is moderately large, made of flower beds, borders, open alleyways, surrounded by alleys covered with beautiful trees, with balusters.

Above all, 18 May 1643, the union of Gaston, Duke of Orleans, brother of Louis XIII with Marguerite of Lorraine, was renewed in the chapel of the castle, with the blessing of the Archbishop of Paris, Jean-François de Gondi.

Letters patent dated 31 August 1657 bear "permission to extend the park of Meudon, enclose it in walls, even though the acquired inheritances are in the neighborhood of the pleasures of His Majesty," or in other words, of the neighboring Palace of Versailles.

Already, a year earlier in 1678, members of the Académie Royale d'Architecture visited Meudon, and found that "what was renovated on the garden side of the castle in the days of M. Servien is very ruined, particularly the cornice of the central pavilion," (P.V.I.

A cabinet displayed miniatures of the groves of Versailles painted by Jean Cotelle the elder, doubtless a gift from Louis XIV in 1688 to thank his minister for the perfect completion of the marble Trianon de porcelaine.

The large gallery, which occupies the entire right wing on the first floor, is adorned with twelve paintings by Adam Frans van der Meulen on the great battles of the reign.

On July 2, 1685, Louis XIV, the Dauphin Louis de France, the Dauphine Maria Anna, Monsieur (Orléans) and Madame (Elizabeth Charlotte, Madame Palatine), "accompany the greater part of the Princes and Lords of the Court," come to Meudon, where Louvois treated the King and the whole Court was given a magnificent collation, during which the violins and oboes of the Opera played melodies by Jean-Baptiste Lully "(...)" But M. de Louvo was sorry to see that he was pleased the whole time the king was with him."

On the 29th of June, 1691, two weeks before the sudden death of Louvois, "Monseigneur went to Meudon with Madame Princesse de Conti; they made a snack at the château, and walked for a long time in the park and in the gardens "(Dangeau).

On the proposal of Louis XIV, the widow of Louvois, Anne of Souvré and his son Barbézieux agreed to exchange Meudon for the Château de Choisy and a balance.

The Louis, Grand Dauphin did extensive work at Meudon and turned it into his special showplace, spending a sum of one million one hundred forty thousand French livres, although the king his father had put it among the royal residences and in the charge of the Bâtiments du Roi.

He did not hesitate to redecorate some rooms several times, removing for example the ceiling painted by Charles de La Fosse to give expression to the light style of Claude Audran.

"[19] On 17 May 1717, the Tsar Peter the Great, accompanied by Prince Francis II Rákóczi and the Marshal de Tessé, visited Meudon and rode horses in the gardens.

Marie Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans, Duchess of Berry, eldest daughter of the Regent, Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, owned the Château d'Amboise and wanted to swap it for Meudon.

Indeed, from 4 June to 13 August 1723, Louis XV, the "Infanta Reine", the Regent and the Court settled in Meudon for a month, time enough to restore Versailles to house the young sovereigns.

"As soon as he was dead, the Duke of Orléans returned to Meudon to inform the King of this news, who begged him to take charge of all the conduct of affairs, declared him prime minister, and was sworn in on the following day".

On this occasion, the arms of Louvois - azure, with three lizards of silver laid in pal, to the chief sewn gules charged with three gold stars - which were still on the central pediment - were erased.

One year after his accession, the architect Louis Le Dreux de la Châtre [fr] drew up an inventory dated October 10, 1775, which enumerates the "mirrors, marbles, paintings and other effects belonging to the King" in the castle.

Conté had under his orders a confused gathering of young men in all professions, without any dye[clarification needed] of chemistry, drawing, or mathematics, who were called upon to create an entirely new technique.

In Paris, he owned the famous Pompeian house sheltering his connection with the actress Rachel Félix, but it was to Meudon that he came to "sulk" over the protocol at the imperial court, of which he was not fond.

Jacques-François Blondel recalls his admiration for these ceilings of arabesques at Meudon, although he condemns the style of the ceiling to decorate the dwelling of a prince: « D'ailleurs l'on peut réduire ces ouvrages à des nuages avec des Génies, & à quelques belle grisaille qui en forme les extrémités; décoration préférable à ces riches, mais peu vraisemblables peintures grotesques, dont on voit d'ingénieux desseins d'Audran, & qui sont exécutées avec un succès étonnant dans quelques appartements de Meudon, aussi bien que dans les plafonds & sur les lambris du Château de la Ménagerie: seul bâtiment où ce genre de peinture soit convenable ».

Finally, the inventory of the royal furniture[43] indicates under the number: "1768 - Four couty mats striped with two strands of wool, with their threads of several colors, for the windows of the cabinet of Monseigneur at Meudon."

The Duchess and the Princess de Conti divided themselves between the care of the dying man and of the king, to whom they frequently returned, while the confused Faculty, the distraught valets, the buzzing courtesan, pushed each other and walked without ever changing place".

At the end of the 19th century, Louis XIV's apartment consisted of an antechamber, a royal chamber, a small passageway to the rear, That of a "cabinet of the mirrors of the King", which had a balcony allowing to admire the view on Paris.

944, as given by the "Lettres écrites de la Vendée": "At two leagues from Paris is Meudon, where is seen in the wood an admirable and wonderful grotto, enriched with supports and damping of cut stone, small turrets turned and massed in the ass of a lamp, paved with a pavement Of porphire bastard, speckled with white, red, green, gray spots and of a hundred different colors, noughed by esgouts made with gargoyles and lyon muffles.

The frontispiece has large fluted and roughened columns, trimmed with bases, Capital, architrave, friezes, cornices and moldings of good grace And just proportion: the vase and taillour sustained on the tests of virtues, approaching the average proportion of the colossi, enriched with leaves of acanthus and ursine branch to sustain the fullness of the stock, Very well conducted and completed; But the troubles have made there irreparable ruins, and especially to the pipes which have been broken".

On the pedestal are limes, grenades and grapes, crimson curtain and sky background, the other represents a golden bronze vaze, surrounded by a garland of flowers posed on a fullte of green marble, beside is a vase Of silver overturned with a figure of a woman in the form of an anchor.

When the Château-Neuf was finished in 1709, on avait disposé two paintings ordered from Fontenay, comme pour toutes les autres pièces de l'appartement, ce qui uniformisait le décor, à savoir : "A golden vase with two handles, surrounded by a garland of fruit, placed on a table of porphire, which is furnished with grapes; On the right, a basket filled with Italian grapes, cucumber, pomegranate and flowers; on the left, a crimson curtain, behind which are several golden basins, one of which is surrounded by a garland of flowers."

The inventory of Crown furniture is as follows: "A three-piece basse-lisse tapestry of wool and silk, enhanced with gold and silver, manufactured in Paris at the Gobelins Manufactory and designed by Audran.