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A masterpiece fit for a king, the Château of Chambord.

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The Château of Chambord lies in an ocean of trees

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along the Loire River in central France.

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The façade has many towers,

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almost making it look like a king's crown.

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The château dates back to the time of François I.

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The rows of towers are superbly decorated.

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The towers are chimneys, each leading to a fireplace.

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Chambord was built to entertain guests and reflect the king's power.

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It was not built for fortification purposes.

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Shortly after his coronation, he sent troops to Italy.

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Having brought Milan under his control,

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he met the master of Renaissance art, Leonardo da Vinci.

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The king invited the 64-year-old to live in France.

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François I at that point lived in the Château of Amboise.

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He provided lodgings for da Vinci nearby at the Clos Lucé.

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The king would visit da Vinci almost every evening

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and talk late into the night.

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It was on one of those long evenings that the idea came to build a new city.

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A sketch by da Vinci laid out the plans of an ideal town.

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The buildings in the sketches rise upward and are drawn dimensionally.

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There are staircases in the four corners of the building

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so that people can come and go freely.

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Da Vinci died shortly afterwards.

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The king, mourning his lost friend,

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sought consolation by hunting in the forest.

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François I chose it as his location for a tribute to da Vinci's genius.

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The centrepiece at Chambord is a spiral staircase.

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And behind one spiralling staircase is another spiral staircase.

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The two are independent, they never meet.

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The king created the stairs true to the spirit of the ideal city

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sketched out by da Vinci.

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The Château of Chambord is a Leonardo da Vinci blueprint

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and a monumental masterpiece of a king.