After our meetings we were welcomed by the American Friends of Chantilly and heard about the great work they have done to promote ad renovate the château. The Château de Chantilly has one of the finest museums of historical paintings (after the Louvre) and a library of rare books including the famous 15th century Book of Hours of the Duke of Berry. We had a fantastic tour of the library and were shown a very special sketch book belonging to Delacroix including the preliminary sketches for his Orientalist paintings.
The second day of our meetings included very interesting presentations given by the Research Scholars and Advanced Students describing their research work in France. That afternoon we visited Musée National d'Histoire Naturelle. The museum has been closed for 15 years and just re-opened with the original collections of animals from all over the world. The animals are presented in "Noah's Arc" style rather than in a natural habitat.