Young Audiences

Christmas enchantment and workshops

from 1 December 2024 to 5 January 2025

From 1 December, the magic of the festive season will fill the rooms of the castle with joy, thanks to decorations designed by floral scenographer Marjolaine Bougrier Vaucelles. During the school holidays, you can enjoy dramatised tours and Christmas workshops with your family or friends.

AMAZING PROGRAMME FREE FOR ALL (included with admission ticket)

Dramatised tours (only in french)
From 26 to 29 December at 2pm, 3pm and 4pm, no registration required
Duration: 30 mins

Actress Pierrette Dupoyet steps into Leonardo's shoes to share a host of anecdotes from his life. The artist recounts his journey from Italy to Amboise, his precious exchanges with Francis I and the inventions he came up with at Clos Lucé. Pierrette Dupoyet, a major figure at Avignon’s Festival Off, is renowned for her striking transformations into historical figures such as Victor Hugo, Honoré de Balzac, Arthur Rimbaud, Sarah Bernhardt and Joséphine Baker.

“Plant art” workshops

From 26 to 31 December from 11am to 2pm, 3pm and 4pm, no registration required

Duration: 30 mins

Make an Epiphany crown, a New Year's Eve table centrepiece or an original wall decoration. On a straw base in the shape of a circle or crown, give free rein to your imagination by choosing from a variety of decorative materials: pages from books linked with the sculptures on display in the castle, foliage from the grounds, pine cones, dried citrus slices, feathers, sweet-smelling cinnamon sticks, sparkling sequins…

“Calligraphy on greetings cards” workshops

From Thursday, 26 to Saturday, 28 December at 2.30pm, 3.15pm, 4pm and 4.45pm, registration at the ticket office
Duration: 45 mins

Try your hand at calligraphy with Antoine Fantoni and create a magnificent greetings card to wish your loved ones a happy new year. The workshop includes creating an envelope to match your card, which you can seal with a wax seal for an even more sophisticated effect.

Sewing workshops

From Sunday, 29 December to Saturday, 4 January (except 1 January) at 2.30pm, 3.15pm, 4pm and 4.45pm, registration at the ticket office
Duration: 45 mins

Under the guidance of Blandine Corderet, a dressmaker based in Amboise, you can make a personalised, reusable bag to give presents in a more sustainable way, or a cushion or garland made from fabric in Christmas colours. The little ones can make a fabric coloured picture mounted on a book cover. All fabrics are machine washable!

Modelling workshops

From 2 to 4 January, at 11am and 12pm, registration at the ticket office
Duration: 1h

Antoine Fantoni will help you to create a figurine in clay (for older children) or in plastiline, a material similar to modelling clay (for younger children). Learn the basics of sculpture and take your work home with you.

New

Leonardo da Vinci, Painter and Architect Galleries

Since June 2021

LEONARDO DA VINCI PAINTER GALLERY

The 17 masterpieces produced by Leonardo da Vinci will be projected onto the walls and ceiling of the ground floor gallery thanks to digital technologies. Along with the preparatory drawings on show, they create an original and spectacular exhibition that visitors can engage directly with. This imaginary museum presents treasures from the Louvre in Paris, the Uffizi in Florence, the Vatican Museums, the National Gallery in London, the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, the National Museum in Kraków, the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg and the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. and immerses visitors into the Tuscan master’s painted works.

Faces, smiles and hands, perspective, the Last Supper, the blue horizons of the landscapes on his canvases all intertwine in this fascinating and lyrical circular journey through his artistic creativity.

LEONARDO DA VINCI ARCHITECT GALLERY

This exhibition offers a fun and educational tour of the achievements of Leonardo da Vinci the civil, religious and military architect, town planner and talented stage director of spectacular festivities. Facsimiles, drawings, life-size models, digital tables and 3D animation bring these disciplines to life.

In the multimedia room on the first floor, come and explore a 3D reconstruction of the Royal Palace of Romorantin designed by Leonardo da Vinci for King Francis I, through a video game created specially for the exhibition.

Where: in Leonardo da Vinci's park Price: included with your admission ticket

To whet your appetite, watch our podcast and visit galleries from your own home! (in French).