The royal “Château de Chambord” is one of the most recognizable châteaux in the world because of its very distinctive French Renaissance architecture which blends traditional French medieval forms with classical Renaissance structures. The building, which was never completed, was constructed by King Francis I of France.
Chambord is the largest château in the Loire Valley; it was built to serve as a hunting lodge for Francis I, who maintained his royal residences at the châteaux of Blois and Amboise. The original design of the Château de Chambord is attributed, though with some doubt, to Domenico da Cortona; Leonardo da Vinci may also have been involved.
Who designed the Château de Chambord is a matter of controversy. The original design is attributed, though with several doubts, to Domenico da Cortona, whose wooden model for the design survived long enough to be drawn by André Félibien in the 17th century. In the drawings of the model, the main staircase of the keep is shown with two straight, parallel flights of steps separated by a passage and is located in one of the arms of the cross.
According to Jean Guillaume, this Italian design was later replaced with the centrally located spiral staircase, which is similar to that at Blois, and a design more compatible with the French preference for spectacular grand staircases. However, “at the same time the result was also a triumph of the centralized layout—itself a wholly Italian element.”In 1913 Marcel Reymond suggested that Leonardo da Vinci, a guest of Francis at Clos Lucé near Amboise, was responsible for the original design, which reflects Leonardo’s plans for a château at Romorantin for the King’s mother, and his interests in central planning and double spiral staircases; the discussion has not yet concluded, although most scholars now agree that Leonardo was at least responsible for the design of the central staircase.
Archeological findings by Jean-Sylvain Caillou & Dominic Hofbauer have established that the lack of symmetry of some facades derives from an original design, abandoned shortly after the construction began, and which ground plan was organized around the central staircase following a central gyratory symmetry. Such a rotative design has no equivalent in architecture at this period of history, and appears reminiscent of Leonardo Da Vinci’s works on hydraulic turbines, or the helicopter. Had it been respected, it is believed that this unique building could have featured the quadruple spiral open staircase, strangely described by John Evelyn and Andrea Palladio although it was never built.
Regardless of who designed the château, on 6 September 1519 Francis Pombriant was ordered to begin construction of the Château de Chambord. The work was interrupted by the Italian War of 1521–1526, and work was slowed by dwindling royal funds and difficulties in laying the structure’s foundations. By 1524, the walls were barely above ground level. Building resumed in September 1526, at which point 1,800 workers were employed building the château. At the time of the death of King Francis I in 1547, the work had cost 444,070 livres.
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