Amboise · Indre-et-Loire
Leonardo’s garden at Clos-Lucé
The flamboyant Gothic manor given to Leonardo da Vinci by François I in 1516, where he spent his last three years, is classified since 1862; its park is today laid out as a garden evoking his landscapes, with Amboise castle in view.
From the source
Château du Clos-Lucé is a château at Amboise, Indre-et-Loire, in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France. The recorded building campaign dates from the 15th century. Its architecture is recorded as Flamboyant. It is protected as a monument historique at the higher of the two levels (classé). Details are drawn from the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture.
Editorial reading
The record is about the house: built by a servant of Louis XI, acquired by Charles VIII who added the chapel, given to Leonardo in 1516, classified by the list of 1862 and again in 1914. It does not describe the grounds. The garden photographed here, with the château of Amboise on the skyline, is documented by the image and by the site’s presence in the Base Mérimée as a garden, not by the record’s text.
Recommendation
Whatever the record omits, this is the one garden where you can stand where Leonardo looked out.
Sources
Base Mérimée — immeubles protégés · PA00097504 — Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab) — Ministère de la Culture, base Mérimée
Wikimedia Commons · https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Clos%20luce%2004.jpg — CC BY-SA 3.0
The château by this garden
Discover the architecture and history of this place at Le Roi du Château.
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