Built in 1122 by Louis VI the big, Le château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye was royal residence for several centuries and birthplace of several sovereigns like Louis XIV.

After the revolution, the castle will house a cavalry school under Napoleon and a military penitentiary under Louis-Philippe. In 1862, Napoleon III decided to install the "Museum of Celtic and Gallo-Roman Antiquities".

Le Musée d'Archéologie nationale is now home to national antiquities, from the early settlements of France until the year 1000. It preserves the most beautiful known ensemble of prehistoric carved and engraved art, including the female head of Brassempouy.