Amboise · Indre-et-Loire
The royal gardens of Château Gaillard at Amboise
A fief of the château of Amboise, Château Gaillard belonged to Charles VIII, who laid out flower and kitchen gardens there; in 1505 Louis XII gave it to his gardener Pacello for an annual rent of one bouquet of orange blossom.
From the source
Château Gaillard is a château at Amboise, Indre-et-Loire, in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France. The recorded building campaign dates from the 16th century. It is protected as a monument historique at the second level (inscrit). Details are drawn from the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture.
Editorial reading
The record ties this domain to the beginnings of the Renaissance garden in France. Charles VIII had flower and vegetable gardens established; Louis XII gave the estate to the gardener Pacello, on condition of a yearly bouquet of orange blossom; in 1559 the cardinal de Lorraine bought it and rebuilt the front of the lord’s lodging. The gardens were first designed by Pacello and present a very simple order: four squares framed by tall trees. The chapel is a rectangular room partly cut into the rock and partly covered by a terrace. The whole domain, built and unbuilt, was listed in 2023. The orangery with its lavender borders, photographed here, honours the orange-blossom rent.
Recommendation
This is where the Italian garden entered France: four squares and an orange tree, and the rent was a bouquet.
Sources
Base Mérimée — immeubles protégés · PA00097505 — Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab) — Ministère de la Culture, base Mérimée
Wikimedia Commons · https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/CG2015.JPG — CC BY-SA 4.0
The château by this garden
Discover the architecture and history of this place at Le Roi du Château.
To the château dossier →Connected Landscapes, Terroirs & Living Heritage
Explore the historic gardens, remarkable villages, wine terroirs, and cultural itineraries intimately connected with this heritage landscape.
Château du Clos-Lucé
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.
Château d’Amboise
The Royal Château of Amboise occupies a promontory above the Loire in Indre-et-Loire. It was a residence of the French court during the Renaissance and retains part of a much larger historic complex. The royal residence presents rooms associated with the Renaissance and with the nineteenth-century renewal under Louis-Philippe. The site also includes the Saint-Hubert chapel, identified by the château as Leonardo da Vinci’s burial place, and elevated gardens overlooking the river. The present visitor experience combines surviving buildings with interpretation of parts that have disappeared. The château and its grounds belong to the Loire Valley cultural landscape; that wider context is distinct from an individual World Heritage inscription for every building.
Château de Pocé-sur-Cisse
Château de Pocé-sur-Cisse is a château at Pocé-sur-Cisse, Indre-et-Loire, in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France. The recorded building campaigns date from the 15th and 19th centuries. It is protected as a monument historique at the second level (inscrit). Details are drawn from the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture.