Oise

Oise is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from part of the provinces of Île-de-France and Picardy.

After the coalition victory at Waterloo, the department was occupied by British troops between June 1815 and November 1818. In the late 19th century, two of the best known monuments in Oise, the Château de Pierrefonds and the Château de Chantilly, were rebuilt by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc and Honoré Daumet at the behest of Napoleon III and Prince Henri, Duke of Aumale, respectively. Upon the Duke of Aumale's death in 1897, the collections of the Château de Chantilly were bequeathed to the Institut de France, which opened the Musée Condé in the castle. In his will, the Duke stated: "I want all to have access who are drawn to collections, archives, a library, none of which I believe are mediocre."^[4]

Both the Armistice of 11 November 1918 and the Armistice of 22 June 1940 were signed in Oise.

Oise has been part of the region of Hauts-de-France since 1 January 2016. Until 31 December 2015 it was part of the now-former region of Picardy. Its southern border is situated 35 km north of Paris. It is surrounded by the departments of Somme, Aisne, Seine-et-Marne, Val-d'Oise, Eure and Seine-Maritime. It borders Île-de-France to the south with Seine-et-Marne and Val-d'Oise; and Normandy to the west with Eure and Seine-Maritime.

The president of the Departmental Council of Oise is Nadège Lefebvre of The Republicans (LR), first elected in 2017.

The major tourist attraction of the department is the Parc Astérix theme park, which opened in 1989. Other sites of interest are Beauvais Cathedral, the Château de Pierrefonds, restored by Viollet-le-Duc, and the art collection of the Château de Chantilly within the Musée Condé, which is one of the largest nationally outside Paris.

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  The art gallery in the Château de Chantilly
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  Beauvais Cathedral
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  The stables at Chantilly
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  Rollercoaster at Parc Astérix
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  The Château de Compiègne seen from its park
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  Renault FT in the Glade of the Armistice
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  Château de Pierrefonds

Oise is twinned with Bedfordshire in England. It is also twinned with the Indonesian regency of Karanganyar and the Chinese provinces of Shandong and Zhejiang.

One of the villages along the river Oise is Auvers-sur-Oise, famous for having been visited by several impressionist artists. This is where Vincent van Gogh spent his last 70 days and is his and his brother Theo's resting place.

• Arrondissements of the Oise department
• Cantons of the Oise department
• Communes of the Oise department
• Monument aux morts (Oise)