The royal Château de Chambord at Chambord, Loir-et-Cher, France, is one of the most recognizable châteaux in the world because of its very distinct French Renaissance architecture which blends traditional French medieval forms with classical Renaissance structures. The building, which was never completed, was constructed by King François I.
Chambord is the largest château in the Loire Valley ; it was built to serve as a hunting lodge for François I, who maintained his royal residences at Château de Blois and Château d’Amboise. The original design of the Château de Chambord is attributed, though with several doubts, to Domenico da Cortona. Some authors claim that the French Renaissance architect Philibert Delorme had a considerable role in the château’s design, and others have suggested that Leonardo da Vinci may have designed it.
It is believed that the drawings of the great Italian masters of Chambord castle owes its famous staircase with intricate twist. In addition, in the castle about 360 fireplaces and more than 400 apartments. Chambord is also famous for the fact that in his art gallery exhibited the rare portraits of French kings.
Originally positioned as a “hunting lodge”, Chambord is staggering elegance and at the same time, the grandeur of unique interior and exterior architecture. Terraces, spiers, gables, lights – all worthy of close attention and study.
Under Louis XIV at the chateau of Chambord were the most magnificent court activities – hunting, colorful festivals, magnificent jousting, military parades, the premiere performances based fashion plays of Moliere.
Chambord was altered considerably during the twenty-eight years of its construction (1519–1547) during which it was overseen on-site by Pierre Nepveu. With the château nearing completion, François showed off his enormous symbol of wealth and power by hosting his old archnemesis, Emperor Charles V at Chambord.
Chambord is undeniably one of the most recognizable castles, the architectural masterpiece of the Renaissance. Frontage length 156 m, width of 117 m, in the castle of 426 rooms, 77 staircases, 282 fireplaces and 800 statutory decorated capitals. Construction began in 1519 and has become one of the largest construction projects of the Renaissance. They say that at the construction site were employed 1700-1800 workers. It took about 220 000 tonnes of stone. Life on the building site was not easy, especially since the castle was built on swampy place, many workers died of swamp fever.
In 1792, some of the furnishings were sold and timber removed. For a time the building was left abandoned, though in the 19th century some attempts were made at restoration. During the Second World War art works from the collections of the Louvre and Compiègne were moved to Château de Chambord. Now open to the public, in 2007 the château received 700,000 visitors.
In 1392, the family of the Dukes of Orleans buys the Count of Blois large wooded estate of Chambord. When the Duke of Orleans becomes King of France in 1498 under the name of Louis XII, Chambord, respectively transformed into a royal property.
In 1516, Francis I returned from Italy with Leonardo da Vinci and the desire to make something big in the style of Italian Renaissance architecture of the time. In 1519, he chooses to build a hunting Chambord castle on the site of a former fortress of the castle. Starting from 1526, 1800 workers involved in the construction of a new castle, completed after numerous extensions in 1547, after the death of the king. Francis I of conducts, in the end, quite a bit of time at Chambord – a few times to hunt and to demonstrate their wealth and grandeur of the opponent Spaniard Carla V.
After the death of Francis I follow the French kings are not particularly interested in an abandoned castle. In 1639, Louis XIII gives it to his brother Gaston d’Orleans.
Louis XIV in 1684 orders the new internal rearrangements of the castle, a new roof for the chapel, about to join the rest of the northern four residential lobby of the second floor in a suite of rooms for the king, such as the royal apartments in the palace of Versailles. October 14, 1670 with Moliere theater group from Paris, invited by Louis XIV, gives the castle is the first glimpse of the play “Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme”.
From 1725 to 1733 years, the castle was occupied by Stanislaw Leszczynski – the deposed king of Poland and father in law of Louis XV. From 1745 to 1750 years, it serves as a barracks for the regiment Moritz.
It is known that in the middle of the XVIII century by the resolution of Louis XV in the castle housed a chemical laboratory Count Saint-Germain.
In 1792, the revolutionary government is selling furniture. Napoleon Bonaparte gives Castle Marshal Berthier. In 1821, the estate will be purchased from his widow through a national subscription and handed the young Henri d’Artois, the Duke of Bordeaux, who gave birth to the year before. After the revolution of 1830, was already in exile, the Duke would be getting title “Count Shamborskogo.” Even before that, Charles X briefly lived in a castle, it slightly podremontirovannye. During the Franco-Prussian War, the castle serves as a field hospital. Count Shamborsky in 1871 will appeal to French of Chambord with a manifesto calling for the restoration of the monarchy and the white flag. Since 1883, the castle belongs to the Duke of Parma: Robert Duke of Parma inherits the castle of Count Shamborskogo, his maternal uncle.
Repurchased in 1930 in Elia Bourbon for 11 million francs in gold, Chambord becomes the property of the French state and operated under the mediation of the “Association of Friends of Chambord.” In 1945, due to a fire partially destroyed the roof of southeast dungeon. In 1947 he started a lot of work to turn the castle into a major tourist site offering since 1952 as the evening light and sound presentation.
Since 1981, listed as a world heritage by UNESCO under the number 933. Since 2005 the castle has a status of a state public business. In 2007, 17,300 Scouts for three days celebrated in the castle park of centenary creating scouting organization by Lord Baden Powell.
Châteaux in the 16th-century departed from castle architecture;[nb 2] while they were off-shoots of castles, with features commonly associated with them, they did not have serious defences. Extensive gardens and water features, such as a moat, were common amongst châteaux from this period. Chambord is no exception to this pattern. The layout is reminiscent of a typical castle with a keep, corner towers, and defended by a moat. Built in Renaissance style, the internal layout is an early example of the French and Italian style of grouping rooms into self-contained suites, a departure from the medieval style of corridor rooms. The massive château is composed of a central keep with four immense bastion towers at the corners. 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 château features 440 rooms, 282 fireplaces, and 84 staircases. Four rectangular vaulted hallways on each floor form a cross-shape.
