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City and chateau

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Sound and light show

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The best view of the city and the chateau of AMBOISE is the one you can see from the bridge connecting the small island Saint-Jean and the left bank of the Loire. On the quays you can still see a few houses of the 15 and 16th century. But when you cross the bridge you enter the busy and convivial little city of AMBOISE and downwards the stream, the promenade du Mail with its famous fountain “la Fontaine”, work and gift from Max Ernst (1891-1976). The frog and the tortoise you can identify in it are inspired by the “fables de La Fontaine”. The main shopping street is the Loire parallel running street, rue Nationale, finishing with the 15th century clock tower “Tour d’Horloge”.  All this dominated by the impressive chateau.
Amboise had its glorious days in the 16th century when two princes of the Renaissance lived here: one of the great art protectors François 1er and his guest Leonardo da Vinci who died in Amboise in 1519.
Let’s start with the main piece: the CHATEAU.
THE CHATEAU OF AMBOISE built in gothic and Renaissance style is set on a strategic located plateau where they used to be a medieval fortress. It has a non-negligible advantage over its colleague chateaux: it's furnished. The building started under Louis XI who lived in Amboise and, Charles VII who born here stayed a great part of his childhood here, rebuild a large part by Italian architects and died after banging his head by accident on a doorframe. Louis XII had different stays in this city and François 1er completed the renovations and chose this castle several times as resting place.  It's in Amboise and not in Paris that all these sovereigns wanted to rule.
The interior delivers a medieval atmosphere you will rarely find elsewhere. It’s here that in 1560 several dozens of protestant aristocrats were hanged on the iron wrought balconies of the chateau, one by one, as they advanced to present a petition to the king! It is interesting to know that this so pretty residence was also a prison and that Fouquet and Abd-el-Kader (one of the first heroes of the North African uprisings) were special guests in that prison. It's also in the region around Amboise that a certain Mick Jagger, thick-lipped singer of the Rolling Stones, bought himself a little manor of the 18th century. I understand them well, Amboise is in the heart of Touraine, a region where living is so, so good!
The major part of the chateau was destroyed during the Empire but it kept “le Logis du Roi”, of gothic style (15th century). Next to the Logis is the Tour des Minimes, also called tour des Cavaliers, and renowned by its large ramp with a very slight declivity that the cavaliers used to accede the terrace of the chateau. From the terrace you have a great panorama on the city and the Loire. On one side of the terrace, the small "chapelle Saint-Hubert"(1491) is an admirable example of flamboyant gothic style, genuine jewel of gothic architecture, especially by the quality of the sculptures that enhance the entrance. It is supposed to house the presumed bones from Leonardo da Vinci. In July and August, professional actors animate the terrace with historical sketches and Renaissance games enhance the promenade through the park. From mid-June to end of August you can "A la cour du Roy Francois", a super production spectacle with sound and lights, pyrotechnic effects, water plays and hundreds of figurants.

If you want to know more about this spectacle, click here

Bibliography

Regions Gourmandes: Les pays de la Loire, by H.Walden (Paris, ed.Hatier 1993)—Guide du Patrimoine, Centre, Val de Loire , by Perouse de Montclos (ed.Hachette 1992)—Het dal van de Loire, by A.Sperber (Brussels, ed.Harenberg 1992)—Par les champs et par les greves, by G.Flaubert (1885)—Guide du Routard 1998 (ed.Hachette)—de kastelen van Frankrijk, by L.P.Boon (1956)-Leonardo da Vinci en France, by J.de la Touraine (ed. Seuil 1987), Les rois a Amboise, by Paul Touvry (ed.Castellin, Tours 1978)