Clos Lucé

Clos Lucé stands in the centre of Amboise, a large château built of pink brick and white stone. Hugues d’Amboise raised the octagonal tower and spiral staircase in 1471 on Gallo-Roman foundations. The building once had full fortifications, though only a watchtower remains today. Charles VIII bought it in 1490 and turned it into a comfortable summer house for the royal court. Francis I gave the ageing Leonardo da Vinci the house in 1516, and the polymath lived there until his death in 1519. The house is protected as a historic monument and now serves as a museum of Leonardo’s life and work. Visitors find the rooms where Leonardo slept and worked, alongside those of Anne of Brittany and Marguerite of Navarre. The oratory still shows murals painted by Leonardo’s pupils, including an Annunciation and a Last Judgement. A copy of the Mona Lisa hangs in the gallery, painted long after Leonardo’s original left for Paris. Outside, the park of seven hectares follows the Amasse stream, lined with Renaissance gardens. The château’s façade has barely changed since the 15th century, and the old rampart walkway remains intact. Inside, first-floor bedrooms were restored in 2011 to show period furnishings and artefacts. A restaurant on the grounds offers meals inspired by the royal kitchens. The Saint-Bris family have cared for the property since 1855, opening it to the public in 1954.