World Heritage Encyclopedia

Clos Lucé

Château du Clos Lucé

General information
Type	Château
Architectural style	Renaissance
Town or city	Amboise
Country	France

The Château du Clos Lucé (or simply Clos Lucé) is a small château in the city of Amboise, France. The place is famous for being the official residence of Leonardo da Vinci between 1516 and 1519, when Leonardo died.

Clos Lucé is located at 500 metres from the royal Château d'Amboise, to which it is connected by an underground passageway. Built by Hugues d'Amboise in the middle of the fifteenth century, it was acquired in 1490 by Charles VIII of France for his wife, Anne de Bretagne. Later, it was used by Francis I, as well as his sister Marguerite de Navarre, who began writing her book entitled L'Heptaméron while living there.

In 1516, King Francis I of France invited Leonardo da Vinci to Amboise and provided him with the Clos Lucé, then called Château de Cloux, as a place to stay and work.^[1] Leonardo, a famous painter and inventor, arrived with three of his paintings, namely the Mona Lisa, Sainte Anne, and Saint Jean Baptiste. Leonardo lived at the Clos Lucé for the last three years of his life, and died there on 2 May 1519.

Today, the Clos Lucé is a Leonardo da Vinci museum that reflects the prestigious history of the region and includes forty models of the various machines designed by Leonardo. The museum also includes a copy of the Mona Lisa, painted by da Vinci.