The Loire Valley – Chateau de Chambord

Still a little groggy from lack of sleep, I left the city of Paris at an ungodly hour of around 7am and travelled to the vast country side of France – the Loire Valley, which houses many of the famous chateaus in the country.  One of them is the Chateau de Chambord, where I am heading.

Chambord in Loire Valley

Chambord is one of the most recognisable and largest Chateau in the Loire Valley.  It was originally built to serve as a hunting lodge for King Francois I however, he spent barely seven weeks there in total including his short hunting visits.

Chateau de Chambord, originally a hunting lodge for King Francois I

As the Chateau had been constructed with the purpose of short stays, 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.

Chambord in Loire Valley

Chateu de Chambord, hunting lodge of King Francois I

One of the highlights of this chateu is the double helix open staircase which ascend the three floors without ever meeting. There are suggestions that Leonardo da Vinci may have designed the staircase, but this has never been confirmed.

Sort of light house illuminating the double helix stair case from the above

 

“The towers, cupolas, the gables, the lanterns, the chimneys, look more like the spires of a city than the salient points of a single building.” ~ Henry James

Similarly, as the château 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 2,000 people at a time!  For this reason the Chateau was completely unfurnished during this period and all furniture, wall coverings, eating implements etc were brought specifically for each hunting trip.  It is for this reason that much furniture from the era was built to be dis-assembled to facilitate transportation.  After King Francois died of a heart attack in 1547, the château was not used for almost a century 😦

Here’s a little fun fact:  Chateau Chambord was the inspiration for Beast’s castle in the Disney film Beauty and the Beast 🙂

Stepping into the Chateau was like stepping back in time.  You try to imagine yourself in their shoes and realise how lucky you are that you have the convenience of today’s technology.  Still it was an amazing experience, the grandeur of the Chateau makes it one of the best known examples of France’s architectural history.

Onto my next stop:  Bordeaux!