Visiting Leonardo Da Vinci’s last residence—the Châteaux du Clos Lucé in Amboise, France

Back in December 2018 I was thrilled to get to visit the last residence of Leonardo da Vinci. The old master moved to Amboise, France upon the invitation of King Francois I and was given the Châteaux du Clos Lucé as his home. More than anything it was an experience in itself to simply feel the gravity of the place knowing that the individual known as Da Vinci lived and worked within the same walls I was walking in. It is definitely worth a visit.

The first room that we walked in on was Leonardo’s bed chambers. The room contained numerous lovely pieces of 16th century furniture — however whether the bed or any of the other pieces of furniture were there while Da Vinci was is not known (at least not by me ;). As stated previously, what was most profound was simply knowing that Da Vinci himself lived his everyday life in this space. To see the fading paint on the walls and know that da vinci saw the same thing is remarkable.

Walking into Da Vinci’s studio was of course the most thrilling of all the rooms. Not surprisingly, the studio was very staged, but just experiencing the space and direction of the light was incredibly exciting in itself.

There are numerous models of Da Vinci’s inventions in the basement of the chateaux as well as life sized models outside in the garden’s. Both are more than worthwhile to experience and look at.

When in Amboise a visit to the chateaux d’Amboise is also a worthwhile visit. If you are lucky enough to book yourself an airbnb that has a room inside the city/chateaux wall you will also appreciate the novel ‘cave like’ experience immensely!