On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
I know we’re supposed to be looking at the chateau, but I am captivated by the gray-blue of the sky. The perfect backdrop for the chateau. And then we’re treated to beautiful light on da Vinci’s “grave”! What a lovely contrast. ~WaterGirl
Auntie Anne
Amboise is a more traditional chateau. It was built on a spur of the river Loire and sits high above the river and town. Today, there’s a school at the foot of the castle, which one of my gaming friends attended as a young boy.
It was a favored royal residence in the fifteenth century. King Charles VIII died at the château in 1498 after hitting his head on a door lintel. King Francis I was raised at Amboise, and during the first few years of his reign, the château reached the pinnacle of its glory. As a guest of the King, Leonardo da Vinci came to Château Amboise in December 1515 and lived and worked in the nearby Clos Lucé, connected to the château by an underground passage. Da Vinci died and was buried at the chateau in 1519.
Henry II and his wife, Catherine de’ Medici, raised their children in the Château d’Amboise, along with Mary Stuart, the child Queen of Scotland who had been promised in marriage to the future French Francis II.
Exterior of the chateau
Another view of the exterior
Leonardo da Vinci’s “grave.” The actual chapel where he was buried was demolished after the French revolution. 60 years later, the demolition site was excavated and a collection of bones with an extremely large skull was buried in the Chapel of Saint Hubert as indicative of his final resting place.
Throne. What interested me is that the king during the chateau’s peak of royal favor (Francis 1 – 1515-1547) actually traveled between chateaux to better administer France. So this throne was portable, and it traveled with the king and his court.
Henri (Henry) II’s bedchamber. He married Catherine de’ Medici when he was only 14. He actually spent most of his time with his mistress, Diane de Poitiers.
View across the Loire from the chateau.
JPL
How fascinating.
satby
Looks like a place and a town you could spend days learning about.
Thanks for sharing.
Barbara
Henri II and Catherine de Medici had 9 children so they must have spent some time together.
msb
IIRC, the royal family (Francis II and Mary Queen of Scots, with Catherine, etc.) watched from the chateau as large numbers of protestant rebels were hanged and drowned after the “Tumult of Amboise” (a rebellion against the ultra-Catholic Guise brothers, who were Francis’ regents).
J R in WV
Great job, pictures, history, the lowering sky. Wonderful!
Thanks so much.
I hope to someday be able to travel to Europe again, to visit and travel slowly in France, to drive in the Alps… someday. To eat oysters from all along the coast of northern France, to walk historic battlegrounds, to slowly cruise canals, to photograph the folks in their towns, the crops in the fields… I hope!
Thanks again for the photo set!! Well done!
Sab
I love this! I just discovered Dorothy Dutton’s Lymond Chronicles this summer. Now I have pictures!
Dorothy A. Winsor
I love the light and the dark skies behind the outside pics.
stinger
Wow! Was reading about the virus, and about Trump, and then I saw the word “chateau” and suddenly I could feel my hands unclench and my heart rate slow and my blood pressure drop. Then the photo of the cream walls and slate roof and slate-colored sky — everything a chateau should be. Thank you!
Auntie Anne
@stinger: I need a mental break from all of the awfulness right now too; that’s why I’ve been putting OTR posts together. It’s calming for me . . . the history, the architecture, and the memories of a trip I loved every minute of.
LightCastle
I have a fondness for this chateau because it has the name of my old dance teacher.
(Also, it’s just terribly lovely.)
Steve from Mendocino
I visited the Loire chateaux in the early 70’s. This brings back those memories. Thank you!
My ex-wife (French) explained to me that Angers is a “chateau fort”, meaning it was designed primarily for its military characteristics. Ambroise and many of the others in the Loire functioned more as palaces than defensive installations.
I’m curious whether Angers still has formal gardens at the exterior of its base. I would imagine not, since those have largely disappeared throughout France.
I look forward to seeing more of these.
Auntie Anne
@Steve from Mendocino: there are gardens outside of the walls in the now-dry moat. The weather was miserable the day we visited, so I don’t have pictures of them.
KSinMA
@LightCastle: Lucky you!
Original Lee
We didn’t make it to Amboise because we went to Clos Luce first. We spent the whole day there, geeking out on the da Vinci exhibits. I think my favorite was the bridge.