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selenakTomorrow, we`ll move on to Brittany, so today we finished our time in the Loire valley in as breathtakingly beautiful surroundings as we started. I mean -
I`ll start small again, though. We threw in Beauregard at the last moment, but were glad to do so, because this relatively small chateau which started out as a hunting place for Francis I turned out to be very charming.
The kitchen
Rustic or not, they have a portrait gallery consisting of 327 portraits
With some English celebreties thrown in
Beauregard is still privately owned, as is Cheverny, our next stop. If you`re into comics, Cheverny served as Herge`s inspiration for Moulinsart, the chateau of the Tintin comics, or, as we call them in German, `Tim und Struppi`. Here it is -
The rooms open to the public are gorgeously decorated, like this dining room.
And extravagently. They alll have a crime theme, Arsene Lupin, Phantomas, ACD`s hound of the Baskervilles. Here`s Hitchcock -
If the King ever visited, he`d have been given this room -
The grand salon
The library
Bye, Cheverny -
Blois boasts of having been the main residence of the Valois kings. They also, like most of the Loire towns and castles, make the most of the Leonardo anniversary. Just check out their redecoration of the stairs -
Whereas a Blois alley looks like this -
The chateau de Blois
Which has its own rider reminding me of the one in my hometown of Bamberg
The cour d`honneur
Of which the stairs are a main attraction
Check out the details
That part of the palace dates to Francis I` time, hence all the salamanders again. Whereas this one hails from his predecessor Louis XII` era. Louis was famous mainly for two things in historical pop culture - choosing the porcupine as his personal emblem, and marrying Henry VIII` youngest sister Mary in his old age, then dying, which allowed her to marry her true love, the multi-married Charles Brandon, later Duke of Suffolk.
The general assembly hall
The king`s room in Francis` part of the castle
The queen`s gallery, the queen in question being Catherine de` Medici
Bedroom of Catherine`s son Henri III, also supposedly the place where his arch enemy the Duke de Guise was murdered at his instigation. Henri III was murdered not too much later, and that was the end of the Valois dynasty.
It`s worth checking out the view out of the windows. Gargoyles over Blois!
Adieu, royal palace!
Never mind Blois, though, the true Leonardo da Vinci cult place in France is Amboise, where he died. The chateau d` Amboise looks best from outside, at a distance, in the evening. Here it is from the other side of the river.
And here it is as viewed from my hotel room while the sun was setting.
About eight minutes on foot from the castle, you get to the Chateau du Clos Luce, where Leonardo spent his final years courtesy of Francis I.
Among many other things, they tried to reconstruct his bodegga, showing his various skill sets - painter, engineer, futurist.
Here`s the meeting between Leonardo and Cardinal Louis d` Aragon in said studiolo who described it and the paintings Leonardo showed to him.
There are small scale models of all those fabulous inventions - which didn`t work - in the house itself, but for the 500th anniversary, there are also large scale models in the park. Like the moveable bridge -
And there are large scale homages to Leonardo`s drawings everywhere
And quotes of the man all over the place. In French, naturally. Take that, Florence.
Now, for the big finale, there are two chateaus primarily associated with two very strong willed ladies, Catherine de` Medici and her rival Diane de` Poitiers. Diane was eighteen years older than Henri II who fell in love with her as a teenager and never fell out of it. Which was very good for Diane but pretty much a long term humiliation conga for Catherine, who married the then second son of the King, prince Henri, when she was 15, spent the next ten years ignored by her husband and increasingly desperate for children, then finally got pregnant and didn`t stop getting pregnant for the next decade, though Diane was the one actually in charge of raising the kids. And everything else. And her initials were everywhere. Henri even gave her the crown jewels and crown castles like Chenonceau. When he died, though, it was payday, big time. Catherine demanded Chenonceau back - and the crown jewels, of course -, and made Diane switch it for Chaumond. Which by itself isn`t bad. It`s just not Chenoncau. Diane, still a builder, did have it extended, until it looked thusly from the other side of the Loire -
Or, from the land side -
There`s quite a lot of land around Chaumond, as today it`s the place of a gigantic garden festival. Strolling around in the park can take all day.
One of the current festival gardens -
Part of the castle is also used for contemporary art, as, for example, the chapel -
Now, here is Cenonceau, also refered to as the Chateau des Dames, and not just because of Diane and Catherine. It also was, in turn, home to one of Catherine`s daughters-in-law, Louise de Lorraine, referred to as the white queen because after the assassination of her husband, Henri III, she never stopped wearing white, which was the colour of mourning for French royals, Louise Dupin, who held one of the most famous salons of the Enlightenment here, and managed to get the palace undamaged through the French Revolution, and Simone Menier, sister superior of the hospital Chenonceau was turned into during WWI - her family`s fortune, made from chocolate, served as the financial basis - and resistance fighter in WWII. I`ll give you the beautiful but not yet breathtaking views first.
Chenonceau is state owned, but the property is incredibly well maintained, fresh flowes in every room included.
This was Diane`s room.
The cabinet of engravings
Still not the breathtaking view, but I do love this one from the sidelines as well as we go outside once more.
That`s the Chateau as seen from Diane`s garden.
And this, finally, is the view that slays. We were there early in the morning before the weather changed, and never was there a better decision. Because...
Which leaves me to say goodbye to Amboise and the Loire valley from my hotel window. Next stop Bretagne!
I`ll start small again, though. We threw in Beauregard at the last moment, but were glad to do so, because this relatively small chateau which started out as a hunting place for Francis I turned out to be very charming.
The kitchen
Rustic or not, they have a portrait gallery consisting of 327 portraits
With some English celebreties thrown in
Beauregard is still privately owned, as is Cheverny, our next stop. If you`re into comics, Cheverny served as Herge`s inspiration for Moulinsart, the chateau of the Tintin comics, or, as we call them in German, `Tim und Struppi`. Here it is -
The rooms open to the public are gorgeously decorated, like this dining room.
And extravagently. They alll have a crime theme, Arsene Lupin, Phantomas, ACD`s hound of the Baskervilles. Here`s Hitchcock -
If the King ever visited, he`d have been given this room -
The grand salon
The library
Bye, Cheverny -
Blois boasts of having been the main residence of the Valois kings. They also, like most of the Loire towns and castles, make the most of the Leonardo anniversary. Just check out their redecoration of the stairs -
Whereas a Blois alley looks like this -
The chateau de Blois
Which has its own rider reminding me of the one in my hometown of Bamberg
The cour d`honneur
Of which the stairs are a main attraction
Check out the details
That part of the palace dates to Francis I` time, hence all the salamanders again. Whereas this one hails from his predecessor Louis XII` era. Louis was famous mainly for two things in historical pop culture - choosing the porcupine as his personal emblem, and marrying Henry VIII` youngest sister Mary in his old age, then dying, which allowed her to marry her true love, the multi-married Charles Brandon, later Duke of Suffolk.
The general assembly hall
The king`s room in Francis` part of the castle
The queen`s gallery, the queen in question being Catherine de` Medici
Bedroom of Catherine`s son Henri III, also supposedly the place where his arch enemy the Duke de Guise was murdered at his instigation. Henri III was murdered not too much later, and that was the end of the Valois dynasty.
It`s worth checking out the view out of the windows. Gargoyles over Blois!
Adieu, royal palace!
Never mind Blois, though, the true Leonardo da Vinci cult place in France is Amboise, where he died. The chateau d` Amboise looks best from outside, at a distance, in the evening. Here it is from the other side of the river.
And here it is as viewed from my hotel room while the sun was setting.
About eight minutes on foot from the castle, you get to the Chateau du Clos Luce, where Leonardo spent his final years courtesy of Francis I.
Among many other things, they tried to reconstruct his bodegga, showing his various skill sets - painter, engineer, futurist.
Here`s the meeting between Leonardo and Cardinal Louis d` Aragon in said studiolo who described it and the paintings Leonardo showed to him.
There are small scale models of all those fabulous inventions - which didn`t work - in the house itself, but for the 500th anniversary, there are also large scale models in the park. Like the moveable bridge -
And there are large scale homages to Leonardo`s drawings everywhere
And quotes of the man all over the place. In French, naturally. Take that, Florence.
Now, for the big finale, there are two chateaus primarily associated with two very strong willed ladies, Catherine de` Medici and her rival Diane de` Poitiers. Diane was eighteen years older than Henri II who fell in love with her as a teenager and never fell out of it. Which was very good for Diane but pretty much a long term humiliation conga for Catherine, who married the then second son of the King, prince Henri, when she was 15, spent the next ten years ignored by her husband and increasingly desperate for children, then finally got pregnant and didn`t stop getting pregnant for the next decade, though Diane was the one actually in charge of raising the kids. And everything else. And her initials were everywhere. Henri even gave her the crown jewels and crown castles like Chenonceau. When he died, though, it was payday, big time. Catherine demanded Chenonceau back - and the crown jewels, of course -, and made Diane switch it for Chaumond. Which by itself isn`t bad. It`s just not Chenoncau. Diane, still a builder, did have it extended, until it looked thusly from the other side of the Loire -
Or, from the land side -
There`s quite a lot of land around Chaumond, as today it`s the place of a gigantic garden festival. Strolling around in the park can take all day.
One of the current festival gardens -
Part of the castle is also used for contemporary art, as, for example, the chapel -
Now, here is Cenonceau, also refered to as the Chateau des Dames, and not just because of Diane and Catherine. It also was, in turn, home to one of Catherine`s daughters-in-law, Louise de Lorraine, referred to as the white queen because after the assassination of her husband, Henri III, she never stopped wearing white, which was the colour of mourning for French royals, Louise Dupin, who held one of the most famous salons of the Enlightenment here, and managed to get the palace undamaged through the French Revolution, and Simone Menier, sister superior of the hospital Chenonceau was turned into during WWI - her family`s fortune, made from chocolate, served as the financial basis - and resistance fighter in WWII. I`ll give you the beautiful but not yet breathtaking views first.
Chenonceau is state owned, but the property is incredibly well maintained, fresh flowes in every room included.
This was Diane`s room.
The cabinet of engravings
Still not the breathtaking view, but I do love this one from the sidelines as well as we go outside once more.
That`s the Chateau as seen from Diane`s garden.
And this, finally, is the view that slays. We were there early in the morning before the weather changed, and never was there a better decision. Because...
Which leaves me to say goodbye to Amboise and the Loire valley from my hotel window. Next stop Bretagne!
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Date: 2019-06-01 05:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-06-02 08:39 am (UTC)You're the second person I know who has been to Blois Castle in the past month and I am starting to feel left out ;)
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Date: 2019-06-02 03:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-10-17 12:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-10-17 03:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-09-10 09:14 pm (UTC)Also, why don't more chapels and castles have contemporary art? I like it!
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Date: 2023-09-11 01:04 pm (UTC)https://selenak.dreamwidth.org/tag/france