Architecture

Following the destruction of the fortress of Eudes I, Pierre d’Amboise and then Charles I d’Amboise took on the reconstruction of the castle from 1468 to 1481, building the North wing (no longer there), the West wing, the Amboise tower and the first bay next to the South wing in a Gothic defensive style that was characteristic of the 15th century, with a wall-walk, machicolation and dry moats.

From 1498 to 1510, Charles II de Chaumont-Amboise, assisted by his uncle, Cardinal Georges d’Amboise continued the reconstruction in a style that was already beginning to show characteristics of the Renaissance period, whilst retaining the same general fortified appearance: South wing, gatehouse, East wing and chapel and large staircase in the courtyard.

Shortly after 1560, Diane de Poitiers built the wall-walk with machicolation in the gate-house and the East wing, still incomplete in 1510, appending her emblems and figures on it (intertwined D, bows and quivers, hunting horns, deltas and crescents of the moon).

In the middle of the 18th century, Le Ray de Chaumont destroyed the North wing, opening up the courtyard to the Loire Valley. The castle consequently lost its appearance of a fortress and became a pre-Romantic holiday residence.

In the 19th century, d’Aramon carried out significant restoration work from 1833 to 1843, which was continued by Walsh. The de Broglie family then called upon the architect Paul-Ernest Sanson who continued the restoration work on a much larger scale using the resources available to him. In particular, he restored the East wing, adding a small passageway decorated with shells on the side of the park and the grand courtyard, which was inspired by the cornices in the wing of François I in the castle of Blois.