Description of the attraction
Chambord Castle is the largest in the Loire Valley and one of the most famous in France. It owes its origin to royal passion, moreover, it is believed that Leonardo da Vinci himself had a hand in its architecture.
The construction of the castle began in 1519 by order of the handsome and zhuir Francis I, who wished to be closer to his mistress, Countess Claude de Turi from the Rogan family, who lived nearby. The place for the castle was chosen by the water, at the bend of the Cosson River. History has not preserved the name of the architect who fulfilled the king's whim, but the legend attributes participation in the design to Leonardo da Vinci.
It is difficult to say to what extent this great artist, scientist, engineer was involved in the project: in France, Leonardo found himself under royal patronage in 1516, and died on May 2, 1519. But the castle staircase of two intertwined spirals bears the imprint of a genius: its branches are nested into each other so that those who go up and down cannot meet.
The construction of the castle became one of the prominent engineering undertakings of the French Renaissance. For him, 220 thousand tons of stone were brought, the river was taken into a special ditch, twelve-meter oak piles were driven into the swampy soil, on which the foundation lay. The castle, rectangular in plan, was erected around a central fortified object, which, according to the tradition of the Middle Ages, was called the donjon. Inside the donjon there are 5 residential floors. The length of the facade of the castle is 156 meters, it has 426 rooms, 77 stairs, 282 fireplaces.
Francis I managed to hunt in the vicinity of Chambord only a few times (mainly in the company of the court beauties). In the future, the monarchs were not too interested in the castle, Louis XIII gave it to his brother Gaston of Orleans. Louis XIV undertook the reconstruction of Chambord, and it was here on October 14, 1670 that the great Molière for the first time successfully presented his "Bourgeois in the nobility" to the king. Later, the deposed Polish king Stanislav Leszczynski lived in the castle. During the revolution, Chambord was plundered, Napoleon gave it to Marshal Berthier, during the Franco-Prussian war there was a hospital here.
In 1930, the castle was bought by the French state, and in 1939, five days before the declaration of war with Germany, the museum workers of the Louvre launched an operation to transport art treasures to the countryside. The priceless Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo were sent to Chambord, among other works. The Nazis did not find them, after the war they returned unharmed to the Louvre.
The castle was exposed to dangers more than once: on June 22, 1944, an American B-24 bomber crashed right on its lawn; in 1945, a fire partially destroyed the roof of the keep. In 1947, work began to transform the castle into a tourist site.
Now Chambord is visited by over 700 thousand tourists annually. In addition to the magnificent architecture and the view from the upper terrace, the visitor has the opportunity to appreciate the amazing tapestries "The Hunt of King Francis" dating back to the first quarter of the 17th century. These works were created even before the appearance of the famous Parisian royal manufactory Tapestry.
On a note
- Location: Château, Chambord
- Official website:
- Opening hours: open daily, except January 1 and 31 and December 25. From January 2 to March 31 - from 10.00 to 17.00, from April 1 to September 30 - from 9.00 to 18.00, from October 1 to December 31 - from 10.00 to 17.00. Ticket offices stop working half an hour before closing.
- Tickets: ticket price - 11 euros.
