The Royal Chateau of Fontainebleau is the largest of the French royal chateaux. The chateau as it is today is the work of many French monarchs, building on a structure of Francis I. The building is ranged round a series of courts. The city of Fontainebleau has grown up around the remainder of the Forest of Fontainebleau, a former royal hunting park.This grand palace was a favorite of Napoleon, who dramatically remodeled the old chateau during his stays there from 1807 to 1809.