Intro
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Chambord
Cheverny Chenonceau
Azay-le-Rideau
Château de Chambord
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First stop, by way of Amy’s inaccurate map reading and a
pass through the vineyard village of Vouvray, was
northeast of Tours to the Château de Chambord
[left].
Chambord is the largest castle we visited.
The château's architecture was unique at that time for its central
design. The central building, or keep, is surrounded by four outer towers
connected by hallways. This design
made it very confusing to navigate. In the center is a famous double-helix
staircase thought to have been designed by Leonardo da Vinci, who lived in
France about that time. It ensures that someone going up and someone going down
the two sides of the spiral will not meet, although they can spy each other
through slim inner windows.
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| Atop the three floors of the keep are rooftop terraces
that provide a close-up view of the castle’s pavilions and beautiful towers
[right].
One can also view the canals and extensive (5,440 hectares) parkland surrounding
the castle. With an uninterrupted 31-km-long wall, it is the largest enclosed
forest park in Europe.
The architecture of Chambord is beautiful, but the 440
rooms contain few furnishings. Inhabitants of the castle, which was not lived in
regularly but used as a summer estate for hunting and partying, included
François I, who began it in 1519; Henri II, who continued construction between 1547 and
1559; and Louis XIV, who completed it in 1685.
François I is said to have
scratched in a window of his bedroom after a romance failed, "Souvent
femme varie; bien fol est qui s'y fie." ("Every woman is fickle;
he who trusts one is a fool.") During Louis’ reign, Molière staged his
first performance of Le Bourgeois
Gentilhomme on the ground floor. Others related to royalty inhabited the
castle through the 1800s. The last owner was the Comte de Chambord (the
Dauphin), grandson of Charles X, who was to have become king in the name of
Henri V, but who never acceded to the throne and died in exile in 1883. The
State bought the estate from the heirs of the Comte de Chambord in 1930. |
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An
amazing aspect of this château was how bone-chillingly cold it was inside!
By the time we had finished our 2-hour tour, our feet felt like ice, our fingers
were numb, and we craved the sunshine outside. No wonder it was used mostly in
summer!
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Château de Cheverny
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Our next stop was the Château de Cheverny, which provided great contrast
to Chambord. Cheverny was much
smaller, and what made it most interesting is that it has always been owned by
the Hurault family, known in Blois from the 13th century. In fact,
they had lived there until just 1985, and contemporary photos of the most recent
inhabitants still graced fireplace mantles and bureaus. Because
of that, it may be the most magnificently furnished castle in the Loire Valley. |
| The castle includes paintings by Old Masters, 17th century Flemish
tapestries, a Louis XV grandfather clock, and other rare Louis XIV furnishings.
We saw fully furnished drawing rooms, private bedrooms (Amy particularly
liked the charm of the children’s bedrooms), an armament room full of
fascinating weapons and armor, the “king’s bedroom” (kept in waiting for
royal visitors), the dining room, and library.
On the extensive grounds are also an orangery, used today for conferences
and receptions, and kennels where 70 fox-hunting hounds (a combination of the English Foxhound and French Poitevin breeds) are kept and
bred [right].
A nearby trophy room displaying about 2,000 stags’ antlers
pointing wickedly from every wall and the ceiling, trophies of Cheverny hunts over a century and a half, was distinctly unsettling. |
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Château de Chenonceau
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The last castle for the day was Château de Chenonceau. Unfortunately,
Jan had come down with a bad cold to accompany his bandaged hand and was too
tired to walk another castle. So while he slept in the car, Amy visited
Chenonceau.
The visit begins with a walk down a long, straight, tree-lined road
through Chenonceau’s 70 hectare forested park [left]. Chenonceau appears on the
horizon. Emerging from the forest,
visitors walk through a gate of sphinxes into the formal gardens.
The earliest castle-keep and mill were built by the
Marques family next to the river Cher. In razing those buildings to
construct the present castle in the early 1500s, Thomas Bohier and his wife saved only the dungeon, now a
turret in front of the castle used as a gift shop.
A walk across bridged moats and a pavilion, built over the foundations of the medieval
castle and mill, leads to the door of the current castle.
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| Five women played an important role in designing
and preserving the castle, also called "le Château des Dames."
Catherine Briçonnet, wife of the first owner, rebuilt the medieval Chenanceau
in Renaissance style, incorporating one of the first straight staircases in
France. Henri II's mistress, Diane de Poitiers, added the formal gardens [right] and
arched bridge over the River Cher. |
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Catherine d'Medici transformed the
bridge into an Italian-style gallery (having evicted Diane following her
husband's death in 1559). Louise de Lorraine, bereaved wife of Henri III,
inherited the château in 1590 and painted the ceilings black and white, the
color of royal mourning. Madame Dupin, a cultured 18th-century châtelaine and
hostess to such greats as Voltaire, Rousseau, and Montesquieu, saved the
château from destruction during the Revolution. Much later, Madame Pelouze undertook a
complete restoration in 1863.
The rooms are not as elaborately furnished as at Cheverny
but still hold many interesting furnishings, as well as Old Masters paintings
(Rubens, Tintoret, Veronese, Poussin, van Dyck, and others) and well-preserved
French and Flemish tapestries. Many of the ceilings are as beautifully carved
and decorated as the walls, fireplaces, and floors.
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A special feature of Chenonceau is the kitchen, whose pantry,
butchery, larder, and other rooms are better preserved and outfitted than those of any other castle we saw.
This made it easier to imagine the complexities of cooking large meals in
the 16th century. Because the château
was built on the river [left], boats were able to draw alongside a platform attached to
the kitchen to deliver food supplies directly.
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| Another special area of this castle is the Gallery,
inaugurated in 1577, a 60-m by 6-m room spanning the River Cher [right].
A black-and-white tiled floor and 18 arched windows create a beautiful
space that is easy to envision filled with gowned women and dancing courtiers.
During WWI, the hall was transformed into a hospital ward, and different
medical services occupied all of the Château’s rooms. During WWII, many people
took advantage of the location of the Gallery, whose southern door provided
access to the French free zone on one side of the River Cher, while the Château’s entrance was in the French occupied zone on the other side.
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To complement Jan’s injury, Amy had a slight mishap while
leaving Chenonceau. Walking down a
stone staircase smooth from centuries of use, she slipped and fell. She broke her
fall with her hands, but a bracelet on her wrist pierced her hand. The injury
wasn’t nearly as serious as Jan’s but required a band-aid the rest of the
trip. Good grief!
After that long day, we were too exhausted to seek dinner,
so we settled for the hotel restaurant, which was actually not bad. Vegetables
had been sorely lacking in our diet, and Amy finally got a salad—the
only kind that we could find in most restaurants was niçoise, but they were
willing to serve it without the fish. Vegetables tasted so
good!
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Château d'Azay-le-Rideau
The next morning Jan was sick with his cold, so Amy
breakfasted alone in the dining room. Then we were on the road again, this time
southwest of Tours, making a short stop in the still-sleepy village of Saché and then
on to Château d'Azay-le-Rideau.
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The château, built in 1515 and now owned by the state, was
built by Philippa Lesbahy, wife of Francois I's corrupt finance minister, and
was used as a pleasure palace, lived in during warm weather and deserted in
winter. With tall slender spires atop numerous turrets and a
steep, graceful roof-line, Azay looks fit for a princess [left]. It is encircled by a wide moat fed by the
nearby Indre river and surrounded by beautiful gardens and exotic trees [below]. |
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castle is a good example of how the French incorporated Italian Renaissance
style into their architecture. An unusual central staircase and loggia are open to
the courtyard (not efficient for heating, one would think) and invite visions of
the Lady of Azay leaning out to greet arriving guests.
Inside, the airy,
creaking rooms smell faintly of cedarwood and contain the giant fireplaces, some ornately carved
and decorated, that were necessary to keep such spaces warm. They are full of
lovingly re-created domestic detail. The period furniture, embroidered bed
canopies, family portraits, and Flemish tapestries (dimly lit for protection)
confirm the impression of Azay as a Renaissance museum. |
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