French History

A 2016 GEDEON Programmes Documentary directed by Marc Jampolsky. Audio in English, with subtitles in English (click on CC). The best-known and most impressive castle in the Loire valley, Chambord has remained an enigma to generations of researchers. Who was the architect? What significance did King Francois I, who commissioned Chambord, want the castle to have? And what role did his friend and “king’s architect” Leonardo da Vinci play? Conceived by a young monarch who loved hunting and chivalry, this “dream in stone” is still a puzzle to researchers 500 years later, especially since no preliminary designs have ever been found. Why did the King embark on this epic project in the heart of the marshlands in 1519?

A 1957 programme showing Napoleon's rise to power, his governmental reforms in France, his conquests and the disintegration of the Grand Empire in a rising wave of European nationalism between 1796-1815.