CHAMBORD, a village of central France, in the department of Loir-et-Cher, on the left bank of the Cosson, Io m. E. by N. of Blois. Pop. (1931) 16o. The village stands in the park of Cham bord, which is enclosed by a wall 2 2 m. in circumference. The celebrated chateau (see ARCHITECTURE) forms a parallelogram flanked at the angles by round towers and enclosing a square block of buildings, the facade of which forms the centre of the main front. There is a chapel of the 16th century and a famous double staircase. The chateau was originally a hunting-lodge of the counts of Blois, the rebuilding of which was begun by Francis I. in 1526, and completed under Henry II. It was the residence of several succeeding monarchs, and under Louis XIV. considerable alterations were made. In the same reign Moliere's Monsieur de Pourccaugnac and Le Bourgeois gentilhomme were performed here for the first time. Stanislas of Poland lived at Chambord, which was bestowed by his son-in-law, Louis XV., upon Marshal Saxe. It was given by Napoleon to Marshal Berthier, from whose widow it was purchased by subscription in 1821, and presented to the duc de Bordeaux, who assumed the title of comte de Chambord. On his death it came by bequest to the family of Parma. The estate was sequestrated in 1914.