A number of men and women of letters from Europe, as well as artists, stayed at the Court of Amboise at the sovereigns’ invitation.
Among these was also Leonardo da Vinci.
Known as 'The Florentine Genius', Leonardo da Vinci arrived at Amboise in 1516, at the age of 64,
at the invitation of King François I and was lodged at Cloux Manor (Clos-Lucé).
He spent his time drawing and teaching urbanism and architecture.
Being very close to the King, he supposedly created several attractions for him.
One of the most famous creation was the 'Festa del Paradiso',
where an ingenious system made it possible to recreate the movement of the stars.
He passed away at Cloux three years later, in 1519,
and was buried in the collegiate church of Saint-Florentin of the Château d'Amboise.
In the 19th century, when the collegiate church was demolished,
his bones were transferred to Saint-Hubert’s Chapel within the château grounds.
No comments:
Post a Comment