Château de Chambord, Loire Valley, France

The French architecture of the Château de Chambord in the Loire Valley, France, is very distinctive, mixing the medieval with classic Renaissance. Francois I (1494-1547), King of France from 1515 to 1547, constructed the castle from 1519 to 1547, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 1821, it became the private estate of Henri the Count of Chambord (1820-1883) before the French State bought it in 1930.

It has eleven kinds of towers and three types of chimneys. Inside is a double-spiral staircase that goes to the three floors of the castle without ever meeting. On the first floor is a museum and furnished 16^th-18^th century apartments. On the second floor, there are sculpted vaults with the emblems of Francois I.

The Château de Chambord was the inspiration for Walt Disney Feature Animation’s castle in the 1991 film “Beauty and the Beast.”

MARTINA NICOLLS

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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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