Clos Lucé

Technically, I suppose that the Clos Lucé, in Amboise, isn't really a castle, it's a manor house. It's a very nice XVth century manor house, but its real claim to fame is that it was the home of Leonardo da Vinci from 1516 until his death in 1519. It was also the boyhood home of François I, and served as a royal guest house for a whole flock of dignitaries. It is now privately owned.

François I loved art and was intent on introducing the Italian Renaissance into France. He enticed Leonardo to come to Amboise with a house and a pension, the only requirement being that the king could hang out with him whenever he wanted. Leonardo brought the Mona Lisa with him (which is how it ended up in the Louvre.) While here he designed the double staircase at Chambord, painted, wrote, and arranged entertainment for the king's fêtes. François got his money's worth!

		A small chapel is adjacent to the entrance. It was added at the request of the queen, Anne de Bretagne.
		From his room, Leonardo could look down into his garden, and across to the castle of his patron, François I. Here is the view of Clos Lucé as seen from the terrace of the castle.
		Starting in 1955, the building has been mostly restored to the way it probably looked when Leonardo lived here.
		Here is the great man's bedroom, and a bed such as he might have slept in. And here is the kitchen.

The Inventions

As part of some project back in the 70's IBM had a number of models of Leonardo's inventions built. Many of these were simply drawings in his notebooks, never actually built during his lifetime, but it was fascinating to see them in three dimensions.

Here are a tank, designed to be drawn by horses, paddle wheels for a boat, and a water driven turbine such as is used in today's hydroelectric power plants.

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