Loire, France: Château de Chambord - Europe Travel Guide

Chambord is the granddaddy of the Loire chateaus. Far bigger than your average Loire castle, it has 440 rooms and a fireplace for every day of the year. It's surrounded by Europe's largest enclosed forest. It's a game preserve defined by a 20-mile-long wall and still home to wild deer and boar. Exploring the vast domain by rental bike, you can imagine royal hunting parties chasing their prey. Chambord began as a simple hunting lodge for board nobles and eventually became a monument to the royal sport and duty of hunting. Of course, when it comes to hunting, good horsemanship is an important life skill. Throughout the region, it's not uncommon to see horses prancing and dancing. Starting in 1519, the French king Francis I had this royal retreat built, employing 1,800 workmen for 15 years. Francois I was an absolute monarch, with the emphasis on absolute. In 32 years of rule, he never once called the estates general. That's the rudimentary parliament of old regime France into session. This immense hunting palace was another way to show off his power. The architectural plan of the chateau was modeled after an Italian church. It feels designed as a place to worship royalty. This castle, built while the pope was erecting a new St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, was like a secular rival to the Vatican. Like a cross crowns a great church, the tip-top of the tallest tower here is capped with the fleur-de-lis, symbol of the French monarchy. Each floor of the main structure is the same, four equal arms of a cross branching off of a monumental staircase, which leads up to a cupola. Grand apres-hunting parties were held under these fine barrel-vaulted ceilings. Constructed for Francois I, his emblem, the salamander, is everywhere. The hunting theme carries on throughout the palace. This room features paintings and trophies from Chambord's illustrious hunting past. Typical of royal chateaus, this palace was rarely used. Back then, any king had to be on the road a lot to effectively exercise his power. That's why he'd have lots of royal palaces, and they sat empty most of the time. Back in the 1600s, Louis XIV spent a fortune renovating this place, and he visited only six times. Touring the lavish apartments of various kings and queens, you notice everything inside was designed to be easily dismantled and moved with the royal entourage. Because French kings moved around a lot, the entire court and its trappings had to be mobile. A royal chateau would sit cold and empty for 11 months out of the year, and then suddenly spring to life when the king came to town. Imagine the royal roadies setting up a kingly room like this, busily hanging tapestries, assembling beds, unfolding chairs, wrestling big trunks with handles just before the arrival of the royal entourage. The French word for furniture, mobier, literally means mobile. The fancy spiral staircase continues to the rooftop terrace, decorated by a pincushion of spires and chimneys. From here, ladies could scan the estate grounds, enjoying the spectacle of their ego-pumping men out hunting. On hunt day, a line of beaters would fan out and work their way inward from the distant walls, flushing wild game to the center. That's where the king and his buddies waited for the kill.