Chateau of the Loire - Chambord

There is so much to say and it is completely impossible to say it all here – let me quote the Visitor’s Guide:

“In order to understand Chambord, one must allow oneself to be swept away by the intense excitement and over-enthusiasm of a very young king of 25 who wanted to give the world spectacular evidence of his two passions: hunting and
architecture. To grasp their full measure, the visitor needs to abandon himself
gradually to discovering a unique place: to clear a wall 32 km long, venture
deep into a dense forest full of game, and discover at its heart a mineral jewel
intact. Then he must let himself be overwhelmed by its gigantic size, beyond all
human scare, and caught by that alchemy of forms and structures where nothing is
left to chance…”

The King in question was Francois I born in Blois in 1494, who came to the throne of France on 1 January 1515.

The staircase in the centre of the building was designed by Leonardo Di Vinci and it is actually 2 spiral staircases entwined in such a manner that you can be climbing up one and someone else on the other and not see each other!

The top of Leonardo Da Vinci's Staircase...