PARK AND CEMETERY. 
181 
TOMB OF THE ORLEANS FAMILY. 
Dreux, the family tomb of the Orleans princes 
of France, recently opened (May 15) to receive the 
bodies of the Duchess d’Alencon, a victim of the 
charity fair horror in Paris, and the Due d’Aumale, 
who died in Sicily from the shock of the Duchess' 
death, while less celebrated than Saint Denis, is 
nevertheless one of the historic tombs of France. 
The chapel originated with the Due de Penthievre, 
grand admiral of France, and grandson of the Count 
of Toulouse. Having lost his nine children, with 
the exception of a daughter, the Duchess d’Or- 
THE ST. LOUIS CHAPEL. 
MONUMENT OF THE ORLEANS FAMILY AT DREUX, FRANCE. 
leans, at the transfer of his estate of Rambouillet 
to Louis XVI. the Due transferred their bodies to 
Dreux, where they were entombed with their 
mother, the Princess d’Este, in the old collegiate 
church of St. Etienne. At his own death, in 1793, 
he was laid there with them. But a few years after- 
ward a mob of the Revolution destroyed the church 
and desecrated the tombs, which had been placed 
in the choir. On her return from exile, in 1814, the 
Duchess of Orleans, mother of the future King 
Louis Philippe, undertook the task of recovering 
the remains of her family dead, and at the end of 
her painful search constructed, in 1816, upon the 
same site the mortuary building which her son 
afterwards enlarged, and the origin of which he 
wished to make prominent by the following in- 
scription: 
“Here, behind this marble, have been gathered 
in one tomb by the diligence of S. A. S. Louise 
Marie Adelaide de Penthievre, dowager Duchess of 
Orleans, the mortal remains of the princes and 
princesses of her family, formerly entombed in the 
collegiate church of Dreux, torn from their sepul- 
chre November 29, 1793; reunited by the filial 
piety of S. A. S. Mgr. le Due d’Orleans July 28, 
1821.” 
The chapel as it existed since 1838, erected 
from plans by the Architect Lefranc, presents as to 
its exterior an original appearance. Among the 
remains of the old feudal chateau, with which its 
modernity is in singular contrast, the chapel is a cu- 
rious specimen of composite style, where are min- 
gled in combination the otherwise harmonious 
Gothic, Byzantine and Lombard styles. The facade 
is pierced by a doorway flanked on either side by 
two elegant towers with columns and belfries. At 
the point of the arch stands out in high relief, just 
under the cross, the angel of the Resurrection; upon 
the plate, on either side, are two symbolized me- 
dallions. Still higher up, in the middle of the pedi- 
ment, is a rose inclosing a clock. Then all around 
the building are other little steeples with balconies 
of delicately carved open work. 
But the most characteristic part of the edifice is 
the central portion, or rotunda, with its carved 
dome. More than any other of the architectural 
motifs , this feature emphasizes the special purpose 
of the monument by giving it the ideal appearance 
of a vast miusoleum. The lightness of the details 
corrects the heaviness of the mass of the building, 
while the whiteness of the stone forming the play 
of light and contrasting with the verdure of the 
park goes far to heighten the general effect. 
The interior of the chapel is composed of a nave, 
a transept and a niche behind the high altar. The 
choir is formed by the rotunda, which belongs to 
the original construction erected by the dowager 
Duchess of Orleans. On the sides of the older nave 
there are two altars consecrated to the patron saints 
of Queen Marie Amelie and Mme. Adelaide. The 
arch, ornamented with vases and pendants, is fur- 
ther embellished by a medallion of Saint Louis. 
Most of the stained glass of the windows was exe- 
cuted at Sevres from designs by Ingres. There are 
also two bas reliefs representing the “Adoration of 
the Magi” and the “Resurrection of Our Saviour.” 
The sepulchres are placed in the crypt, in which 
there are four vaults communicating with each 
other, and built in two stories. The first floor, con- 
stituting the “grand crypt.” is circular in form and 
of the same dimensions as the rotunda, to which it 
corresponds. Daylight penetrates through win- 
dows, picturing events in the history of Saint Louis, 
designed by Rouget, Delacroix, Wattier, Horace 
Vernet, Bouton and Flandrino. Here repose the 
dowager Duchess d’Orleans, and by the side of the 
Due d’Orleans, who died in 1842, the princess, his 
