The Royal Château of Amboise on the route of the travelling princes

Exhibition at the Royal Château of Amboise: “On the Road of Traveling Princes”

From June 9 to September 20, 2026, the Royal Château of Amboise inaugurates its major summer exhibition with an invitation to travel: “On the Road of Traveling Princes,” a journey into the heart of royal expeditions and the great explorations of the Renaissance.

To leave like a king

During the Renaissance, the French court was one of the most nomadic in Europe. The king traveled at the head of a retinue of several thousand attendants, traversing the roads of the kingdom or setting out to conquer new territories. These journeys were not mere travels. They played a crucial role in consolidating royal power, mobilizing all the resources of the royal houses and leaving lasting economic, political, and artistic marks.

This grand collective adventure is what the exhibition retraces. It follows routes that led sometimes to glory, sometimes to humiliation, from Péronne to Pavia, passing through the courts of Italy and the Iberian and Breton peninsulas.

A journey through history

The exhibition takes visitors on a journey through the lives of iconic figures: Francis I, Charles V, Charles the Bold, and explorers like Jacques Cartier, who set out to discover new worlds along the North American and Brazilian coasts. These were vicarious voyages that opened up unprecedented commercial and cultural horizons for the time.

Presented in the various rooms of the castle as a guided tour along the display panels, the exhibition concludes on a light and surprising note: the imaginary animals that were believed to have been encountered during the great expeditions: the kraken, the mythical whale, the arrowhead… A playful way to remind us that the imaginations of travelers were as vast as the territories they discovered.

Exceptional works gathered in Amboise

For this occasion, the Royal Château has benefited from exceptional loans from major partner institutions: the Prado Museum, the Army Museum, the Louvre, and the Natural History Museum of Paris. This collection of rare pieces gives the exhibition a remarkable heritage dimension.

An eventful season

Alongside the exhibition, the Château d’Amboise offers a varied cultural program throughout the summer: concerts, installations in the park, shows about famous travelers, scientific conferences, and literary events focused on travel narratives. (More information is available on the Château Royal d’Amboise website.)

Guided tours of the exhibition

To enhance your visit, the castle guides offer themed tours dedicated to the exhibition, included in the admission price at no extra cost. This is an opportunity to discover the main works on display and to follow, through history, the paths taken by the rulers of Amboise.

June 21, July 8 and 22, August 5 and 19, September 13 at 10:00 AM

Tours included in the admission price – reservation required: chateauamboise.tickeasy.com