The royal estate of Château-Gaillard, commissioned by Charles VIII upon his return from the First Italian War, is located in Amboise in the Loire Valley. It includes, notably, a royal residence that is one of the Loire Valley châteaux and extends at the base of the southern slope of the Châteliers promontory, near the Clos-Lucé.
Château-Gaillard is a royal estate built for Charles VIII upon his return from the First Italian War in 1496. Admiring the Poggio Reale villa of Ferdinand the Catholic in Naples, he wished to have a comparable residence near his château in Amboise.
The Château-Gaillard estate served as a 'laboratory' for the French Renaissance: it was the first acclimatization garden in France, featuring the creation of the first royal orangery in France, the first Renaissance garden in France designed by Dom Pacello da Mercogliano, which included the first axial landscape perspective and the first 'French formal garden' parterres. It was also the first French adaptation of Italian Renaissance architecture, inspired by the Medici villas in Florence.
The royal estate of Château-Gaillard was listed as a historical monument in 1963 for its chapel and gardens located in front of the château. After five years of restoration, the estate was opened to the public in 2014.
The Walls of Constantinople are a series of defensive stone walls that have surrounded and protected the city of Constantinople (today Istanbul) since its founding as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Constantine the Great. With numerous additions and modifications during their history, they were the last great fortification system of antiquity, and one of the most complex and elaborate systems ever built. They were also the largest and strongest fortification in both the ancient and medieval world.
Initially built by Constantine the Great, the walls surrounded the new city on all sides, protecting it against attack from both sea and land. As the city grew, the famous double line of the Theodosian Walls was built in the 5th century. Although the other sections of the walls were less elaborate, they were, when well-manned, almost impregnable for any medieval besieger.