Château de Chambord
The Château de Chambord, François I's little "hunting lodge", is the largest and most popular of the Loire châteaux and one of the most extravagant commissions of its age. Its patron's principal object – to outshine the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.
Before you even get close, the sheer gargantuan scale of the place is awe-inspiring: there are over 440 rooms and 85 staircases, and a petrified forest of 365 chimneys runs wild on the roof. In architectural terms, the mixture of styles is as outrageous as the size.
The Italian architect Domenico de Cortona was chosen to design the Château in 1519 in an effort to establish prestigious Italian Renaissance art forms in France, though the labour was supplied by French masons. The château's plan (attributed by some to da Vinci) is pure Renaissance: rational, symmetrical and totally designed to express a single idea – the central power of its owner.
Four hallways run crossways through the central keep, at the heart of which the Great Staircase rises up in two unconnected spirals before opening out into the great lantern tower, which draws together the confusion on the roof like a great crown.
Before you even get close, the sheer gargantuan scale of the place is awe-inspiring: there are over 440 rooms and 85 staircases, and a petrified forest of 365 chimneys runs wild on the roof. In architectural terms, the mixture of styles is as outrageous as the size.
The Italian architect Domenico de Cortona was chosen to design the Château in 1519 in an effort to establish prestigious Italian Renaissance art forms in France, though the labour was supplied by French masons. The château's plan (attributed by some to da Vinci) is pure Renaissance: rational, symmetrical and totally designed to express a single idea – the central power of its owner.
Four hallways run crossways through the central keep, at the heart of which the Great Staircase rises up in two unconnected spirals before opening out into the great lantern tower, which draws together the confusion on the roof like a great crown.
