Château de Chambord

The front façade of the Château de Chambord, viewed from the south.

The double-helix staircase.

The Royal Château at Chambord, Loir-et-Cher, France is one of the most recognizable châteaux in the world because of its very distinct French Renaissance architecture that blends traditional french medieval forms with classical Italian structures.

It is the largest castle in the Loire Valley, but was built to serve only as a hunting lodge for King François I, who maintained his royal residences at Château de Blois and at Château d'Amboise. The original design of the Château de Chambord was by Domenico da Cortona, but was altered considerably during the twenty years of its construction (1519‑1547). Leonardo da Vinci, a guest of King François at Clos Lucé near Amboise, is believed to have been involved in the original design. Nearing completion, King François showed off his enormous symbol of wealth and power by hosting his old enemy, Emperor Charles V.

Architecture

Floor plan

The massive castle is composed of a central keep with 4 immense towers. The keep also forms part of the front wall of a larger compound with two more large towers. Bases for a possible further two towers are found at the rear, but these were never developed, and remain the same height as the wall. The castle features 440 rooms, 365 fireplaces, and 74 staircases. Four rectangular vault hallways on each floor form a cross-shape.

File:Toits Chambord.jpg

The elaborately decorated roof line

One of the architectural highlights is the spectacular double-helix open staircase that is the centrepiece of the castle. The two helices ascend the three floors without ever meeting, illuminated from above by a sort of light house at the highest point of the castle. There are suggestions that Leonardo da Vinci may have designed the staircase, but this has not been confirmed.

The castle also features 128m of façade, more than 800 sculpted columns and an elaborately decorated roof. When Francis I comissioned the construction of Chambord, he wanted it to look like the skyline of Constantinople.

The castle is surrounded by a 52.5‑km² (13,000‑acre) wooded park and game reserve maintained with red deer, enclosed by a 31‑kilometre (20‑mile) wall.

The château was never intended to provide any form of defence from enemies. As such, the walls, towers and partial moat are purely decorative, and even at the time were an anachronism. Elements of the architecture - open windows, loggia, and a vast outdoor area at the top - were also borrowed from the Italian renaissance style, which made them out of place in colder central France.

History

François I

The salamander, symbol of François I, adorns the ceiling in many rooms.

During François I's reign, the castle was rarely inhabited. In fact, the king spent barely 7 weeks there in total, comprised of short hunting visits. As the castle had been constructed with the purpose of short visits, it was actually not practical to live there on a longer-term basis. The massive rooms, open windows and high ceilings meant heating was impractical. Similarly, as the castle was not surrounded by a village or estate, there was no immediate source of food other than game. This meant that all food had to be brought with the group, typically numbering up to 2000 people at a time.

As a result of all the above, the castle was completely unfurnished during this period. All furniture, wall coverings, eating implements and so forth were brought specifically for each hunting trip, a major logistical exercise. It is for this reason that much furniture from the era was built to be disassembled to facilitate transportation.

Louis XIV

For more than eighty years after the death of King François, French kings all but abandoned the castle, allowing it to fall into decay. Finally, in 1639 King Louis XIII gave it to his brother Gaston d'Orleans who saved the castle from ruin by carrying out much restoration work. King Louis XIV had the great keep restored and furnished the royal apartments. The king then added a 300-horse stable, enabling him to use the castle as a hunting lodge and a place to entertain such notables as Molière for a few weeks each year. Nonetheless, Louis XIV abandoned the castle in 1685.

Louis XV

From 1725 to 1733, Stanislas I (Stanislas Leszczynski), the deposed king of Poland and father-in-law of King Louis XV, lived at Chambord. In 1745, as a reward for his fighting valor the king gave the castle to Maurice de Saxe, Marshal of France who installed his military regiment there. Maurice de Saxe died in 1750 and once again the colossal castle sat empty for many years.

The Comte de Chambord

In 1792, the Revolutionary government ordered the sale of the furnishings and the empty castle was left abandoned until Napoleon Bonaparte gave the castle to French military leader Louis Alexander Berthier. The castle was subsequently purchased from his widow for the infant Duke of Bordeaux, Henri Charles Dieudonné (1820-1883) who took the title Comte de Chambord. A brief attempt at restoration and occupation was made by his grandfather King Charles X (1824-1830) but in 1830 both were exiled. During the Franco-Prussian War, (1870-1871) the castle was used as a field hospital.

The Ducal family

The final attempt to make use of the colossus came from the Comte de Chambord but after the Comte died in 1883, the castle was left to his sister's heirs, the Ducal family of Parma,Italy. Firstly Robert, Duke of Parma who died in 1907 and after him, Elias, Prince of Parma. Any attempts at restoration ended with the onset of World War I in 1914. The castle became the property of the Government of France in 1930 but restoration work was not begun until a few years after World War II ended in 1945.

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Gallery

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  The château and its moat
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  From the rear of the château, the partially developed rear towers are visible.
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  The château
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  The castle from the sky