Amboise Château

Only part of the Amboise Château, which was originally four times its present size, has been preserved. On the north side, facing the river, the building is supported by massive buttresses, above which rises the richly articulated facade of the Château with the iron railings of the balcony, flanked by two imposing round towers, the Tour des Minimes (with a spiral ramp up which horses could be ridden) and the Tour Hurtault.

Southeast of the Château of Amboise is the manor house of Clos-Lucé, in which Leonardo da Vinci spent his last years. In the basement are models of machines and machinery constructed on the basis of his drawings. From the cellar of Clos-Lucé an underground passage once ran to the Château of Amboise, 500 meters away.