Chateaus or Bust! Chateau de Chambord

Chateau de Chambord is located in Loire Valley, France and was built by Francois I.  Construction began in 1518 and completed in 1547.
Chambord is comprised of 40 rooms, 84 staircases, 365 fireplace, 1,200 horse stable and sits on 13,000 acres of woods.  Francois was an avid hunter and the hunting reserve at Chambord covers as much ground as Paris.  Leonardo da Vinci has been thought to have taken part in the design of Chambord.





Chateau's fortified tower


 


 via virtourist.com...
Since its origins this has been a Royal castle. The first king to reside here was Francois I. Henri II and Catherine de Médicis also visited the 'Chateau' during their holidays. In the following century, 17th, Louis XIII and Louis XIV also visited the castle frequently. The last king to visit the castle on a regular basis was Louis XIV, who in 1685 chose Versailles to retreat.





The Queen's Bedchamber



The King's Bedroom











via Francemonthly.com...
Like a child carving on his school desk, François I took every opportunity to embellish the castle not only with his initial "F", but also with a stylized Salamander, his personal emblem. Today, you can still see these Fs and salamanders sculpted into the vaulted ceilings of the 2nd floor rooms. A symbol of both fire and cold, the salamander was a mythical animal that could live in fire without harm, and also extinguish it at will with the coldness of its body. In medieval iconography, the salamander represents "the righteous one who never loses the peace in his soul or his confidence in God in the midst of tribulations." François I adapted this motto to suit himself: "I live in it and I extinguish it".


via Francemonthly.com...
It houses a double spiral staircase, with each stairway superimposed on the other so that two people can climb or descend simultaneously without ever having to meet each other. Some say it was designed so that kings wouldn’t ever have to cross paths with servants, others say that one staircase was for the king’s wife and the other for the king’s mistress. The overlapping staircases are located at the intersection of 4 huge rooms forming a cross. Crowned by a 125 ft high lantern, they lead to a magnificent rooftop terrace. In her time, Catherine de Medicis, a passionate of astrology, would often climb to the lantern and consult the stars.

via virtourist.com...
In this photo you see a window decorated with the symbol of the most powerful king of France, the King Sun Louis XIV. He used this castle to retreat from the active court life in Versailles. The king used to come here to hunt and to relax himself.






The Garden


Pictures via FranceMonthly.com, trekearth.com, webshots.com, virtourist.com, flickr.com



Share/Save/Bookmark

17 comments:

  1. What an amazingly beautiful place...it makes me long to go there...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gorgeous! But I've yet to figure out why anyone ever needed a home that big! Who had to clean the darn thing?

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a superb post!! Amy, I love these French Royal castles the most..Can you believe they used it mostly for retreats or vacationing?! It would take days to get to know your way around there-I'm amazed by the number of staircases!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow! Stunning! Thanks for posting!

    ReplyDelete
  5. That double helix staircase is so cool. That must have been so complicated to build. It is beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  6. It's gorgeous!! I've been to Versailles and that place was amazing! I can only imagine how spectacular this one is in real life :)

    Thanks for posting!

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is amazing! I'm at a loss for words... it's beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  8. wowwwwwwwww! Did you by any chance notice that the building in your header bores similarity to the first pic :)

    I can't believe Vinci was also called in :)

    It is breathtaking!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Amazing. I think touring castles would fun as I find them amazing. The construction during a time without modern machines is incredible to me.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Amy, what a stunning post! Gorgeous! I am yearning to go now, the images you chose are amazing. Thank you!
    xoxo
    Judith~

    ReplyDelete
  11. Chambord has to be the ultimate fairy tale castle/chateau. Also much nicer to imagine Sleeping Beauty here instead of Catherine de Medici!

    Thanks for sharing, Amy.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wow - it's gorgeous and gigantic. I'd like to visit, but wouldn't want to live there - can you imagine the work it takes to keep that place clean?

    ReplyDelete
  13. Great post Amy - I love these! It must have been amazing to live somewhere like this although I'd hate to give up furnaces and things like that-lol. The photos are gorgeous, that first one is my idea of a piece of heaven.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Man, what I wouldn't do for my own castle ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  15. I had the chance to visit Chambord last summer. It is breathtaking. The double helix staircase is so cool. The intricate stonework is what always amazes about these old castles... just imagine how long it took to create???? I forget now, which French king has it built, but his crest contained a salamander. There are salamanders carved everywhere.

    ReplyDelete
  16. c'est magnifique!! Oh gosh.. sigh..what I wouldn't give to stay a night in a chateau.... in a Queens room... awhhhhh Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I love to visit castles with you. This is just fabulous! I love that staircase -- Wow.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts with Thumbnails
 

Passages to the Past
All rights reserved © 2013

Custom Blog Design by Blogger Boutique

Blogger Boutique