The Chateaux of the Loire

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Description

From Amboise to Blois to Chenonceaux to Chambord, this tour of the chateaux of the Loire serves up a fascinating mix of political and architectural history, scandal, poetry, and local color. The program shows how French architecture made superb use of Italian Renaissance style while maintaining a distinctly French character. As well as examining the buildings themselves, the program offers an overview of the times in which these chateaux were being built, showing the role played by war and peace, famine and recovery, politics and jealousy in the lives of the chateaux and the people who built and inhabited them. In the process we see how Louis XII, Francois I, Henry II, Francois II, and Catherine de Medici and others left their marks on this valley. Also available in English.