Revealed: The Favourite Monument of the French in 2025 

Every year the French vote for their favorite monument in a contest called Le Monument Préféré des Français. This year’s winner has just been announced: the Château de Chantilly, a 20,000-acre estate that sits just north of Paris, in the Oise département. 

About the Château de Chantilly 

Described as being “as elegant as Versailles but more intimate,” Chantilly once belonged to the Duke of Aumale, son of the last king of France and the country’s richest man. 

The duke was an avid art collector, and the château houses France’s second-most extensive collection of ancient art (after the Louvre) with works by Rafael, Titian, Boticelli, and others.  

Its gardens were designed by Le Nôtre, the designer of the gardens at Versailles, and boast a Grand Canal over two kilometers long! The estate also houses one of France’s most important centers of thoroughbred horse training, with its Great Stables housing hundreds of horses. And yes, crème Chantilly was invented here. 

Following Chantilly in the voting for France’s favorite monument were the lighthouse of Cordouan, the ramparts of the medieval city of Guérande, the sailing ship Pen Duick, and the citadel of Besançon. 

How the Winner is Selected 

Voting takes place in two rounds over several months. First, each of the 13 regions of France nominates 2-3 candidates, plus there are 2-3 nominees for the overseas territories. Thousands of people then vote for these, either by phone or internet, to determine the 14 finalists.  

These 14 finalists are then voted on, and the winner is revealed in a two-hour television broadcast where the top ten are counted down. The tension mounts as the program goes on, because the winner isn’t known until the very end.  

What is a “Monument”? 

Regions can nominate all sorts of things. Many are what you would expect, such as châteaux, cathedrals, lighthouses, and historic Roman sites. And then there are others like the sailing ship Belem, which carried the Olympic flame to France for the Paris Olympics, and the megalithic site of Filitosa on the island of Corsica. And last year the winner was the 24-hour road race of Le Mans! 

Past winners include the Château de Sedan (2023), the nuclear submarine Redoubtable (2022), Place Stanislas in Nancy (2021), and the Citadel and Lion of Belfort (2020). A curiosity is that some of France’s best-known sights have never won, like the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and Mont-Saint-Michel. 

Increasing Visibility 

Participating in the Monument Préféré des Français competition raises the visibility of the contenders, and especially that of the winner. And while no official numbers exist, this also raises attendance. That is important because, as Director of Chantilly Anne Miller says, “Having more visitors generates more resources to fund the maintenance and renovation of our precious buildings and collections.” 

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