Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!

Seen from the river Vienne, the castle of Chinon still reveals military and defensive features, for it was one one the most renown fortesses of the 15th century.

Partially destroyed along the centuries, the castle of Chinon offers to visitors the view of a grandiose architectural structure.

Built on a rocky spur, at the place where the Romans had already built a "castrum", the castle of Chinon still shelters towers which remind that the castle was in fact a true citadel, and not a simple castle.

Inside the castle, one can admire the richness of the decors of its rooms, among which remarkable tapestries of Aubusson.

Not far from Chinon is a dream castle, the castle of Ussé, also said 'castle of the sleeping beauty".
This castle, impressing by its mass and its fortified towers, fascinates by its great number of steeples.

The tradition indeed says that Charles Perrault, in order to locate his famous tale of the sleeping beauty, would have taken this castle as a model, of which the charm still enchants with an unequaled strength.

It was an ancient feudal fortress when it became the property of Jean de Bueil, husband of one of the daughter of Charles VII and Agnés Sorel.

Works have been done to transform it into a less austere residence, ornamented with towers and steeples.

This big fortress, of which the angles are bounded by towers and steeples, has been modified like most of the castles of the Loire.

Indeed, the successive owners changed the original architectural structure of this edifice dating back from the 15th century.

The towers with a conic grey roof, and the thick forest which is around it, have contributed to perpetuate the magical power of this place.

Known throughout the whole world, the casle of Ussé attracts today a great number of young couples, in the search of a romantic place to celebrate their wedding.

Two magnificent cedars from Lebanon are on each side of the chapel of the 16th century, with a single nave.

The walls inside the castle are covered with precious tapestries.

Some come from the workshops of Aubusson:

Other ones, representing village scenes, have been weaved by famous flemish manufactories.

The interior reveals the spendor of saloons and galleries of the eighteenth century, which are adorned with spendid decors and very beautiful furniture.

The castle also encloses very beautiful pieces of furniture, made in Italy, lire a rare sample of florentine cabinet, incrusted with ivory.

On the road to the castle of Amboise, I enjoy the enchanting calm of the quiet banks of the most beautiful river of France.

Amboise is one of the most remarkable castles of the Loire.
It owes its eminent rank in history to the events of which it was the scene, and to the influence of refinement of Italian art in France.

The origins of the castle of Amboise date back to the Gallo-Roman era.
In 500, Clovis, king of the Franks, met Alaric, king of the Wisigoths, there.

Built on the rocky spur of Chatelliers, the castle of Amboise occupies an ideal location, at the confluence of the Loire and Amasse:

Till the middle of the 15th century, the bridge, the town, and the castle were belonging to the Amboise family.
Then Charles VII ordered its confiscation at the benefit of his son Louis XI, who settled there with his wife, Charlotte de Savoie.

Their son, Charles VIII, sacred king aged 13 only, and fearless warrior at the age of 20, was born at Amboise in 1470.

Back from the Italy campaign in 1494-95, marvelling at the luxuous lifestyle and the artistic refinement that he finds there...

...he brings back from Italy not only furniture, works of art, carpets, fabrics,..etc
but also makes come a whole team of artists, of painters, and workers who quickly transformed the castle.

Sumptuous pieces of furniture, and costly paintings enrich the rooms of the castle of Amboise.

Like the room, Louis-Philippe style, where the red is predominant on the walls.

Great portraits decorate the walls of the saloon; in particular the one of the "duc d'Orléans":

and the one of the queen Marie-Amélie de Bourbon, wife of Louis-Philippe, "the king of the French":

In these rooms of the castle of Amboise, a plain and austere style dominates:

The room "Henri II" is an example of it: Walls covered with big tapestries, huge chimneys.

and canopy bed.

Rare tapestries, joist ceilings, ancient high priced pieces of furniture in this elegant and sumptuous room, which was conceived and filled with furniture between the 15th and 16th centuries.

The guards room, with the beautiful stone vault, and rich gothic furniture.

The grave of Leonardo Da Vinci is located in the chapel St Hubert, with a flamboyant gothic style.

The lintel of the door is richly sculpted (in the center the stag who appeared, a cross between his woods, to St Hubert).

The interior of the chapel St Hubert, with its stained-glass windows.

close shot on the stained-glass windows of the chapel St Hubert.

Bust of Leonardo Da Vinci.
Leonardo Da Vinci, solicited by Francis 1st, left Italy to come settle in Touraine, and spend there the rest of his life.

Françis 1st stacked honors over him, and put at his disposal the castle of Cloux, today "Clos-Lucé".
He died there, in the arms of Francis 1st according to the legend.

The clos-Lucé shows a collection of of re-creations of the ingenious machines that he conceived with virtuosity on paper.

such as, for example, this catapult which has been scrupulously realized from the drawings he left.

The following of our travel leads us to the castle of Chaumont sur Loire, of which such is the aspect from the road.

A mixture of magic and mystery, it's the castle of Chaumont, in light color stone, which contrasts with the beautiful slate roofs.

The castle is erected on a hill which dominates the bank of the river.
Feudal fortress, razed by Louis XI, the casle was re-built in the 15th century by Charles 1st of Amboise, and was finished by his son.

The austere aspect of its tower with pepper boxes and of its covered ways is softened by elements of ornamentation which testify of the influence of "renaissance".

Imaginations have got exacerbated about the room of queen Catherine de Medicis (green was her favorite color).

And of the cabinet of the astrologer Ruggieri.

The chapel with ogives is lightened by multicolor stained-glass windows.

The narrow stairway of gothic style, in the heart of the castle, might have led the secret observatory of Ruggieri:

The following of our travel makes us pass by the castle of Blois.
High place edificated in order to dominate the river Loire, the medieval castle was belonging in the 14th century to the counts of Chatillon.
The last descendant of that line gave it in 1391 to the duke Louis d'Orléans, brother of Charles VI.

Here is a view of the wing Louis XII.
When the duke was assassinated in Paris by the burgundian Jean sans peur (John fearless), in 1407, the castle went to Charles d'Orléans (his son), the poet of the family.

Imprisoned at his turn after the battle of Azincourt, he suffered of 25 years of reclusion, comforted by poetry and books.

After having left prison at the end of the war of a hundred years, Charles d'Orléans didn't mind any more about fighting.
Aged fifty, he marries Marie de Cléves, aged 14, and goes back to the castle of Blois.

He gathers a court of well-read men (among whom Villon), of artists, and a team of architects.

The latter demolished the old fortress and built a new building in stone and brick.

Francis 1st acceded to the throne in 1515, and made build the famous stairway you can see on the photo, along with the splendid chimneys of the rooms which give the castle its "renaissance" style.

Another view of the wing Francis 1st, and its stairway.

Here is a view of the facade of the lodges.

In order to divert his brother Gaston d'Orléans from politics, Louis XIV let him build this wing, that you can see on the photo, and which bears the name of Gaston d'Orléans.

The castle of Blois keeps the souvenir of Catherine de Medicis.
Here is her bedroom, with rich gilded decors, in which the canopy bed imposes itself.

Here is the work cabinet of catherine Medicis, on which the walls are covered with wooden panels, hiding secrets.

In Blois, like in Chenonceau, the most luxuous furniture was coming from Italy.

The tuscan workers had been predominant in the 15th and 16th centuries. They were most appreciated in France.

The salamander pattern, emblem of the king Francis 1st, is present on many pieces of furniture...

...as well as on the mantels of chimneys which had been especially made for the monarch.

Here is a close shot of the chimney's mantel of the previous photo.

Here is another chimney's mantel where we see again the salamander, with a greyhound on the right.

And here is a close shot on the chimney's mantel.

In this room, thirty-nine portraits of personalities of the court of the king of France are exposed in the gallery of the wing Francis 1st.

Among these portraits, we find the one of Marguerite de Navarre, also called the queen Margot, sister of Henri III, king of France.

We also find the portraits of the Guise family, dreadful adversaries of Henri III.

Here are the portraits of the ladies of the court.
The flash unfortunately blinds one of those.

The busts of Henri II, Henri III, and Henri IV are exposed in the gallery of the lodges, surrounded with Italian pieces of furniture, incrusted with ivory, and with Flemish tapestries.

The king's bedroom with a canopy bed.
In each room, big chimneys, decorated and painted ceilings, tapestries.

Another canopy bed of the castle.

The king's bedroom reminds us that Henri III had the duc de Guise assassinated in the castle of Blois, on December 23rd 1588.
Here is first an encounter between the king and the duc de Guise.

Here is the assassination of the duc de Guise at Blois, by Hyppolyte-Paul Delaroche.

And here is "Henri III pushing with his foot the corpse of the Duc de Guise", by Charles-Barthélémy-Jean Durupt.

And to end with our visit of the castle of Blois, here is a bust of Francis 1st.

Finally our visit ends with the chief piece of our travel, the castle of Chambord.
The imposing castle of Chambord is erected in the surroundings of Blois, bounded by a huge park which contains centuries old trees.

Wished by Francis 1st, it was ended under the reign of Louis XIV, the sun king.
The figures don't say all, but may give an idea of the sizes of this monument of pride, such as Gustave Flaubert qualified it.

Four hundred and forty rooms, eighty stairways, as many chimneys as days in a year.

Back view.
The park, perfectly rectangular, spreads over an area if 5500 hectares (1500 ha accessible to the public), and constitutes a hunt reserve.

North-West wing.
Chambord if the most extravagant and majestuous castle of the Loire.
Threatened duing the revolution, it was finally offered in 1809 to marshall Berthier by Napoleon.

In 1821, after a national subscription, it went to the duke of Bordeaux.
The state bought it back in 1930.

The famous double revolution stairway, eight meters broad, is the soul of the big castle.
The two screws turn around the central axis up to the terraces.

Two persons can go up and down without meeting one another.
The caisson vault of the stairway is ornamented with the personal emblem of Francis 1st, that is the salamander.

Here is the parade bedroom of Louis XIV, the sun king.

Here is the bedroom which first was the one of the queen Maris-Thérèse before it became the one of Mme de Maintenon.

Here is the bedroom of the count of Chambord, last owner of the castle, and who nearly became king of France.

Some rooms are ornamented with tapestries of the manufactury of Amiens, like this tapestry...

..Or this tapestry.
The great dream of the king Francis 1st faded away in 1789, under the revolution, when Chambord was in big part stripped of its richness.

This room of the castle of Chambord contains a rich collection of portraits of important personages of the court of the king of France, and of illustrious foreign guests.

Here is first a portrait of the king Francis 1st, who started the building of the castle of Chambord.

Next is the portrait of the good king Henri IV who ended the wars of religion with the Edit de Nantes.

Here is the portrait of Louis XIV, the sun king, who ended the castle.

And finally here is the portrait of Stanislas Lesczynski, king of Poland, and duke of Bar and Lorraine.

To end with our travel among the castles of the Loire, I offer you that superb photo of the norturnal vision of the castle of Chambord, lightened by the blaze of the spots.