Château du Clos Lucé
The Clos Lucé through the Centuries
Travel through 800 years of history at the Château du Clos Lucé…
The estate belonged to the d'Amboise family, who donated their lands to the Cistercian nuns of Moncé, an abbey founded in Limeray.
Louis XI gifted the estate to Étienne le Loup, a former kitchen boy who had been ennobled. He built the Château du Cloux from brick and tuffeau stone, as well as one of the finest dovecotes in France, which remains intact to this day.
The site was purchased by Charles VIII and became a summer house for the kings of France. The king transformed the medieval fortress into a country residence. He had an oratory built, a true gem of Gothic architecture, for his wife, Queen Anne of Brittany. Louise of Savoy, Regent of France, stayed at the Clos Lucé and raised her children there: the Count of Angoulême, the future Francis I, and Marguerite of Navarre, a writer and author of the Heptameron.
Francis I and Louise of Savoy invited Leonardo da Vinci to stay at the Clos Lucé. His patron Giuliano de' Medici had just died. Leonardo arrived in Amboise with three of his paintings, including the Mona Lisa. He was appointed "First Painter, Engineer and Architect to the King". Along with his birthplace in Vinci, the Clos Lucé is the only known home he ever had.
Leonardo da Vinci died in his bedchamber at the Clos Lucé on 2 May 1519.
The Château du Cloux was renamed the Château du Clos Lucé. It passed into the hands of the d'Amboise family, who saved it from destruction during the French Revolution.
The château became the property of the Saint Bris family. A century later, Hubert Saint Bris began restoring it with the help of the Compagnons des Monuments Historiques.
A Mission to Share
Restoring a historic residence and bringing it to life, this was the venture our parents decided to undertake, stone by stone, in 1954. We have been continuing this family project ever since.
We wanted to bring the house back to life and return it to how Leonardo da Vinci would have known it at the time of the Renaissance. You will experience the atmosphere of the daily
life of the artist who came to end his days in the sunlight and colours of Touraine, which reminded him of his native Tuscany.
Château du Clos Lucé is a place for passing on the universal heritage, memory and knowledge of Leonardo da Vinci. Its mission is to make the complete world of the artist better known to the widest possible audience.
Our ambition is to make this place of memory a place of life, this residence an evolving heritage, this historic site a castle for the future.
Thank you for coming to experience and share this adventure with us. By visiting the Château du Clos Lucé – Parc Leonardo da Vinci, you are participating directly in its restoration. By making it known, you are contributing to its reputation. Your presence spurs us on.
We hope that your journey in the footsteps of Leonardo will captivate you.
Please enjoy your visit.
François Saint Bris,
President
Highlights of your Visit to the Clos Lucé
Discover also
da Vinci
