Idea #435 : Visiting the renaissance castle of Chambord
Built at the heart of a closed forest park of 50 km², the largest of Europe, the castle of Chambord is the largest castles of the Loire. The site welcomed at first a feudal clod, as well as the former castle of the counts of Blois. In 1516, François Ier, king of France, victorious to Marignan, decides on the construction of a palace in his glory, in the edge of an extraordinary domain of hunting, in Chambord. The desire of king is to realize a new town to Romorantin, and in Chambord a big building in the neoPlatonic style. The project feeds on the humanism of Alberti and on its treaty Of re aedificatoria, inspired by the Roman architect Vitruve. Archives on the genesis of the plan of Chambord are not kept, but it is likely that Léonard de Vinci, installed to Amboise at the end of the year on 1516, was associated to it, as well as the architect Domenico Bernabei da Cortona.
More than 1 800 workers would have worked on the construction of the castle gets organized around a donjon centered on one central staircase with double revolution, which allows for two persons borrowing each a staircase not to cross. The royal wing in the point the North of the surrounding wall of the castle is finished in 1544. An outside gallery concerned arches and a spiral staircase are added next year, whereas continue the works of the wing of the chapel, and the low surrounding wall closing in the South the court, in the style of a medieval fortress.
François Ier dies in 1547, and when little took advantage of his castle. The works of the wing of the chapel continue under the reign of Henri the IId, but are interrupted in 1559, in the death of the monarch. The castle enters then lethargy. It is necessary to wait for the advent of Louis the XIVth so that is finished François Ier’s project. In 1981, the domain is classified in the world heritage of the UNESCO.
Some Pictures
Where is it ?
Château de Chambord, Région Centre Val de Loire, France
