Editing Château de Chambord (section)

==Architecture==
[[File:ChambordGrundriss.png|thumb|left|Plan of the château as engraved by [[Jacques I Androuet du Cerceau|Jacques Androuet du Cerceau]] (1576)]]
[[File:Château de Chambord - 19-08-2015 - Arnaud Scherer.jpg|left|thumb|The château and decorative moat viewed from the north-west (2015)]]
Châteaux in the 16th century departed from castle architecture.{{#tag:ref|Although ''château'' and ''castle'' derive from the Latin ''castellum'',<ref>{{Harvnb|Creighton|Higham|2003|p=6}}</ref> their meaning is different. In French, ''château-fort'' refers to a castle, while ''château'' more properly describes a country house.<ref>{{harvnb|Thompson|1994|p=1}}</ref>|group="nb"}} Indeed, while they were off-shoots of castles, with features commonly associated with them, they did not have serious defences. Extensive gardens and water features, such as a [[moat]], were common amongst châteaux from this period. Chambord is no exception to this pattern. The layout is reminiscent of a typical castle with a [[keep]], corner towers, and defended by a moat.<ref>{{harvnb|Thompson|1994|pp=117–120}}</ref> Built in [[Renaissance architecture|Renaissance style]], the internal layout is an early example of the French and Italian style of grouping rooms into self-contained suites, a departure from the medieval style of corridor rooms.<ref name="Yarwood">{{harvnb|Yarwood|1974|p=323}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|[[Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc|Viollet-le-Duc]], however, in his ''Dictionnaire raisonné de l'architecture française'' (1885) found that there was "nothing Italianate [about Chambord]&nbsp;..., in thought or in form".<ref>{{harvnb|Viollet-le-Duc|1875|p=189}}, quoted in {{harvnb|Tanaka|1992|p=85}}</ref>|group="nb"}} The massive château is composed of a central keep with four immense [[bastion]] towers at the corners. The keep also forms part of the front wall of a larger compound with two larger towers. Bases for a possible further two towers are found at the rear, but these were never developed, and remain the same height as the wall. The château features 440&nbsp;rooms, 282&nbsp;fireplaces, and 84&nbsp;staircases. Four rectangular [[Vault (architecture)|vault]]ed hallways on each floor form a cross-shape.

The castle was never intended to provide any form of defence from enemies; consequently the walls, towers and partial moat are decorative, and even at the time were an anachronism. Some elements of architecture—open windows, [[loggia]]s, and a vast outdoor area at the top—borrowed from the Italian [[Renaissance architecture]]—are less practical in cold and damp northern France.

[[File:ChambordRoof.jpg|right|thumb|The elaborately developed [[roofline]]. The keep's façade is asymmetrical, with the exception of the north-west façade, latterly revised, when the two wings were added to the château.]]

The roofscape of Chambord contrasts with the masses of its masonry and has often been compared with the skyline of a town:<ref name="Tanaka 96">{{harvnb|Tanaka|1992|p=96}}</ref> it shows 11 kinds of towers and three types of chimneys, without symmetry, framed at the corners by the massive towers. The design parallels are north Italian and Leonardesque.<!--following reference does not cover the previous statements--> Writer [[Henry James]] remarked, "the towers, cupolas, the gables, the lanterns, the chimneys, look more like the spires of a city than the salient points of a single building."<ref>{{cite book | title=A Little Tour in France | publisher=William Heinemann | author=James, Henry | edition=2nd|year=1907 |orig-year=1900 | location=London | pages=40 }}</ref><ref name=Garrett78>Quoted in {{harvnb|Garrett|2010|p=78}}</ref>

[[File:Escalier-central-de-face.jpg|thumb|left|The double-spiral staircase]]

One of the architectural highlights is the spectacular open [[Stairs|double-spiral staircase]] that is the centrepiece of the château.<ref name="bbc"/> The two spirals ascend the three floors without ever meeting, illuminated from above by a sort of light house at the highest point of the château. There are suggestions that [[Leonardo da Vinci]] may have designed the staircase, but this has not been confirmed.<ref name="bbc"/> Writer [[John Evelyn]] said of the staircase, "it is devised with four [sic] entries or ascents, which cross one another, so that though four persons meet, they never come in sight, but by small loopholes, till they land. It consists of 274 steps (as I remember), and is an extraordinary work, but of far greater expense than use or beauty."<ref name=Garrett78/>

The château also features {{convert|128|metres}} of façade, more than 800 sculpted columns and an elaborately decorated roof. When Francis I commissioned the construction of Chambord, he wanted it to look like the skyline of [[Constantinople]].

The château is surrounded by a {{convert|52.5|km2|acre|adj=mid}} wooded park and game reserve maintained with [[red deer]], enclosed by a {{Convert|31|km||abbr=off|adj=mid}} wall. The king's plan to divert the Loire to surround the château came about only in a novel; ''[[Amadís de Gaula]]'', which Francis had translated. In the novel the château is referred to as the ''Palace of Firm Isle''.

Chambord's towers are atypical of French contemporary design in that they lack turrets and spires. In the opinion of author Tanaka Hidemichi, who suggests Leonardo da Vinci influenced the château's design, they are closer in design to [[minaret]]s of 15th-century [[Milan]].<ref name="Tanaka 96"/>

{{wide image|Chambord Castle Northwest facade.jpg|800px|Northwest façade of the Château de Chambord}}