François made considerable changes to the Loire Valley royal residences in Amboise and Blois. He built a magnificent new hunting chateau at Chambord where he set up the arrangement of an “apartment”, a series of rooms, the “chambre” or bedroom being the main feature. This was to become the standard layout in royal residences.
Chambord was not designed to be a permanent residence and François stayed there with the court for a total of seven weeks during his reign. The furniture was transported for each visit and the chateau remained unfurnished in between.
Celebrated interior designer Jacques Garcia drew up the plans for a new presentation of François’ chateau to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci in 2019. The original “lit à la francaise”, a style from a later period, has been replaced by a more accurate reconstruction. The room also contains a camp bed, most likely used for a manservant during the night as well as a bed used for travelling.
The King and his court were always on the road, so beds were transported from place to place. The travel bed in François’ bed chamber at Chambord did not belong to him but is a rare original from the same period.
