The castle of Chenonceau is a magical white stone footbridge across the Cher and dedicated to several women (including Diane de Poitiers). It is made up of three sections: a dungeon, a Renaissance construction adorned with turrets, a long gallery built under Catherine de Médicis. The building is full of paintings, tapestries and furniture. Renaissance gardens, that foreshadow those of Louis XIV's century, spread out before it. The ground floor has a guard room, paved with majolicas, next to a magnificent chapel, where you can admire a marble bas-relief representing a Virgin with Child from the 16C.
The tour continues towards Diane de Poitiers' bedroom, adorned with a mantelpiece by Jean Goujon. The gallery that spans the Cher for 180 feet starts at the end of the main hall. In Francis 1's bedroom, you can see magnificent paintings adorning the walls, like the painting of the Three Graces by Van Loo or one of Diane de Poitiers as Huntress by Primaticcio. You climb to the first floor via a sumptuous staircase. It is one of the first with a straight ramp. After a vestibule, you'll see the bedroom used by five queens, then the bedrooms of Catherine de Médicis, César de Vendôme and Gabrielle d'Estrées. Kitchens are laid out in the château's hollow piles and have many pieces of furniture. The main rooms of this surprising unit are the pantry, larder, butcher's room, kitchen and staff dining room.
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