Château de Compiègne

You're standing at the Château de Compiègne, once one of the three great seats of the French court, alongside Versailles and Fontainebleau. Take a look at the façade. Clean, symmetrical, no frills. That's neoclassicism: simplicity and clarity, inside and out. Notice the shape? The château is triangular. That wasn't the architect's whim. The old town ramparts and surrounding streets simply left no other option. Altogether it covers about twenty thousand square metres.