Chambord Castle

France’s Loire Valley is châteaux country, a beautiful region with an extraordinary cluster of regal mansions, palaces, and famous French castles. Chambord Castle (Château de Chambord) is the largest and most extraordinary of these, rivaled only by nearby Chenonceau Castle.

King François I built Chambord Castle in France as a hunting lodge and spent less than eight weeks here his entire reign, but he spared no expense in its construction. Building began in 1519 and employed 1,800 workers. The original design is attributed to Italian architect Domenico da Cortona, but Leornardo da Vinci, who visited Chambord Castle during its 50-year construction, is also thought to have inspired much of the architecture. Unlike many medieval castles (Sterling Castle in Scotland, for example), Chambord Castle in France was never intended as a defensive structure; design focused on beauty.

The end result was the most extravagant buildings in all of Europe, a masterpiece of Renaissance architecture, surpassing all other famous French castles until the construction of Versailles a century later. The roof was inspired by the skyline of Constantinople and hundreds of columns, towers, chimneys rise above the 440-foot long façade. (Today, the roof in illuminated at night: a sight well-worth seeing). Chambord Castle’s central staircase is a winding double-helix, thought to be designed by da Vinci.


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