Chambord Castle
In 1516, François I, king of France since 1515, came back from Italy with Leonardo da Vinci with a desire to create a large structure in the Italian Renaissance style.
The hunting lodge chosen by François I in 1519 quickly turned into an immense architectural creation with lofty ambitions, a new “wonder of the world” destined to immortalise its creator, François I, the “architect prince”.
This residence bears spectacular testimony to his two passions: hunting and architecture. To discover it, visitors must penetrate a dense and game-filled forest before, at its heart, discovering an architectural gem still that has remained intact.
Colossal Size
The colossal size of Chambord, beyond all human scale, is astounding, like its alchemy of shapes and structures where nothing was left to chance. The Château de Chambord displays a unique silhouette, with its 156 metre façade, 426 rooms, 77 staircases, 282 fireplaces and 800 sculpted capitals.
The geometric clarity of the layout of Chambord, which is based on a central body with square lines in the shape of a Greek cross, like the one of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome built at the same time, the harmony of its proportion and the imaginativeness of the rooftops spiked with turrets, chimneys and breathtaking skylights fill visitors with wonder.