1660–1685

Visits of Louis XIV

Louis XIV is interested in Chambord after the domaine is returned to the crown with the death of his uncle Gaston of Orléans in 1660. The first visits are uncomfortable due to the state of the castle, unfinished since the Renaissance. Louis XIV untrusts Jules Hardouin-Mansart with the castle's interior fittings to provide accomodation for his court, as well as with the last works necessary on the chapel's and the kitckens' low surrounding walls. A public apartement for the king and a theatre for Molière's company are built in the dungeon. The construction of stables and a project of gardens and canals are started and then abandonned with the end of the king's visit to Chambord in 1685.