Azay-le-Rideau is a commune of the Indre-et-Loire département in France. The chateau of Azay-le-Rideau, built from 1518 to 1527, was one of the earliest French Renaissance chateaux. Built on an island in the Indre River, its foundations rise straight out of the river.
Gilles Berthelot, state treasurer of Francois I and mayor of Tours, began building on this already-fortified site, which was partly his wife's inheritance. However, it was Philippe Lesbahy who directed the course of the works, including the novel idea of a central staircase that is Azay's greatest innovation. When Berthelot was suspected of collusion in an embezzlement case, he was forced to abandon the still incomplete Azay-le-Rideau in 1528, and never saw the chateau again. The king confiscated the property and gave it as a reward to one of his high-ranking soldiers.
Over the centuries, the chateau changed hands several times until the early part of the 20th century, when it was purchased by the French government and restored. The interior was completely refurbished with a collection of various Renaissance pieces. Today, the chateau is open to public visits.
The long low proportions and the sculptural decorations of Azay are Italianate, in the new antique taste, but the bastion corners capped by pointed cones, the vertical stacks of grouped windows separated by emphatic horizontal string courses, and the high sloped slate roof are unmistakably French. The playful fortifications and the medieval donjon towers gave an air of traditional nobility to the king's newly ennobled treasurer.
The central staircase is the main feature a visitor meets upon entering. It is embodied within the building, rather than rising helically, partly embedded in the wall and visible from outside, in the French way that is familiar at the Chateau de Blois. The sculptural details at Azay are particularly remarkable. On the ground floor, fluted pilasters on high bases support the salamander and the ermine, emblems of Francois I and Claude de France.
The Romantic generation rediscovered the appeal of Azay-le-Rideau. Honoré de Balzac called the chateau a facetted diamond set in the Indre. Now, Azay-le-Rideau is surrounded by a distinctly 19th century park-like English landscape garden with many species of trees, especially exotic conifers such as Atlas cedar, bald cypress and sequoias from the New World.
