From May 26 to September 1, 2019, the Domaine national de Chambord is offering an exceptional exhibition on more than 2000 m², the largest to date, on a new subject: Chambord in the past and in the future.
In September 1519, the first stone was laid for what would become, under the impetus of François I, the most astonishing construction of the French Renaissance: the Château de Chambord. 2019 was the opportunity for the estate to reflect on this unique architecture by proposing a double exhibition, both retrospective and prospective, linking yesterday and tomorrow under the auspices of utopia and ideal architecture.This
exhibition, produced with the exceptional support of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, is curated by architect Dominique Perrault and philosopher Roland Schaer.
Heritage exhibition: the genesis of Chambord Th
e concerns and hopes of the Renaissance, the emblematic personality of Francis I and the place of Leonardo da Vinci, who died in Amboise a few months before the start of the construction of Chambord, will be put into perspective by nearly 150 works from 34 prestigious institutions including the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Louvre Museum, the Galerie des Offices, the British Museum, the Florence Library and the Army Museum.The
presentation of manuscripts, rare books, drawings, paintings, models, art objects, including three original pages of Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex Atlanticus, numerous digital mediation tools and discovery cabinets for children will allow the public to truly enter the architecture of the monument, and to grasp its radical novelty
.
Contemporary exhibition: Unfinished Chambord
This retrospective dimension, fuelled by the most recent work, will be complemented by a totally new prospective panoply for a monument of this importance: the presentation of 18 projects from architecture laboratories of the world’s leading universities, representing the 5 continents, proposing to relaunch Chambord’s architectural utopia today, 500 years later.At
the forefront of technical innovation, these laboratories have carte blanche to design their vision of a reinvented Chambord. Between political, social or environmental utopia: How can we imagine the ideal Chambord of the 21st century?
