00:00The Château de Chambord in Chambord, Centre-Val de Loire, France, is one of the most recognizable
00:13châteaux in the world because of its very distinctive French Renaissance architecture,
00:18which blends traditional French medieval forms with classical Renaissance structures.
00:23The building was constructed by the King of France, Francis I.
00:27Chambord is the largest château in the Loire Valley.
00:30It was built to serve as a hunting lodge for Francis I, who maintained his royal residences
00:34at the Château de Blois and Amboise.
00:37The original design of the château is attributed to the Tuscan architect Domenico da Cortona.
00:42Leonardo da Vinci may have also influenced the design.
00:45Chambord was altered considerably during the 28 years of its construction, 1519-1547,
00:52during which it was overseen on site by Pierre Neveu.
00:55With the château nearing completion, Francis showed off his enormous symbol of wealth and
00:59power by hosting his old arch-rival, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, at Chambord.
01:05In 1792, in the wake of the French Revolution, some of the furnishings were sold and timber
01:11removed.
01:12For a time the building was left abandoned, though in the 19th century, some attempts
01:16were made at restoration.
01:18During the Second World War, artworks from the collections of the Louvre and the Château
01:22de Compiègne were moved to the Château de Chambord.
01:26The château is now open to the public, receiving 700,000 visitors in 2007.
01:30Flooding in June 2016 damaged the grounds but not the château itself.
01:35Château in the 16th century departed from castle architecture.
01:39Indeed, while they were offshoots of castles.
01:42With features commonly associated with them, they did not have serious defenses.
01:47Extensive gardens and water features, such as a moat, were common amongst château from
01:50this period.
01:52Chambord is no exception to this pattern.
01:55The layout is reminiscent of a typical castle with a keep, corner towers, and defended by
01:59a moat.
02:00Built in Renaissance style, the internal layout is an early example of the French and Italian
02:05style of grouping rooms into self-contained suites, a departure from the medieval style
02:09of corridor rooms.
02:11The massive château is composed of a central keep with four immense bastion towers at the
02:15corners.
02:17The keep also forms part of the front wall of a larger compound with two larger towers.
02:22Places for a possible further two towers are found at the rear, but these were never
02:26developed, and remain the same height as the wall.
02:29The château features 440 rooms, 282 fireplaces, and 84 staircases.
02:35Four rectangular vaulted hallways on each floor form a cross shape.
02:39The château also features 128 meters of façade, more than 800 sculpted columns, and an elaborately
02:46decorated roof.
02:47When Francis I commissioned the construction of Chambord, he wanted it to look like the
02:51skyline of Constantinople.
02:53The château is surrounded by a 52.5-square-kilometer, 13,000-acre, wooded park and game reserve
03:00maintained with red deer, enclosed by a 31-kilometer wall.
03:04The kinjis' plan to divert the Loire to surround the château came about only in a novel, Amadeus
03:09de Gala, which Francis had translated.
03:12In the novel, the château is referred to as the Palace of Firmile.
03:16That is all.
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