Chateau de Chambord

Chambord is the grandest and most extravagant of the Loire Valley chateaux, a vast Renaissance hunting palace built for Francois I, its roofline a fantastical forest of towers, turrets, cupolas and chimneys. A UNESCO site set in a huge walled park, its centrepiece is a remarkable double-helix staircase, two spirals winding around each other, said to owe something to Leonardo da Vinci.

History

Who designed Chambord is disputed: the original design is attributed, with doubts, to the Tuscan architect Domenico da Cortona, whose wooden model was still drawn in the 17th century, and since 1913 some have argued for Leonardo da Vinci, Francis I's guest at nearby Clos Lucé; many scholars now agree that Leonardo at least designed the double-spiral central staircase. Construction was ordered on 6 September 1519, interrupted by the Italian War of 1521-1526 and slowed by money and foundation problems, so that by 1524 the walls were barely above ground; when work resumed in September 1526, 1,800 workers were employed, and by Francis I's death in 1547 it had cost 444,070 livres. Built as a hunting lodge, it saw the king for barely seven weeks in all, since its huge rooms were impractical to heat and there was no village nearby to feed a court (Wikipedia, Château de Chambord).

The main sights

• The double-helix staircase - the famous twin spiral stair at the heart of the chateau.
• The fantastical roofline - the forest of towers, turrets and chimneys, walkable on the terraces.
• The state rooms - the vast halls of the hunting palace.
• The park - the huge walled estate of forest and deer.

When to go

Spring to autumn for the park and mild weather; the chateau is open year-round. It is a highlight of a Loire Valley tour by car, paired with the smaller, prettier Chenonceau.

Good to know

It is vast and rather empty inside, a grand hunting lodge more than a lived-in home, so the architecture is the draw more than furnished rooms. It is a couple of hours from Paris, best with a car for the Loire. The park is huge, so bikes or a buggy help.

Nearby

Chenonceau, Amboise and the other Loire chateaux are within reach; Blois is nearby.

Key facts