CHAMBORD

village, Loir-et-Cher dpartement, Centre rgion, central France. It lies on the left bank of the Cosson River, east of Blois. The only commune in France owned entirely by the state (since 1932), it lies in the 13,600-acre (5,500-hectare) National Hunting Reserve and Breeding Park, which is surrounded by the longest wall (20 miles ) in France. Its famed Renaissance chteau, with 440 rooms, is the largest of the Loire group. Originally a hunting lodge of the counts of Blois, it was completely rebuilt by Francis I and Henry II, beginning in 1519. Molire wrote Monsieur de Pourceaugnac and some of Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme at the chteau, where he performed them for Louis XIV. Louis XV loaned the chteau to his father-in-law, Stanislaw I Leszczynski, from 1725 to 1733, and then rewarded Marshal Maurice de Saxe for the victory of Fontenoy by deeding the domain to him. Napoleon made a gift of the neglected property to Marshal Louis-Alexandre Berthier, from whose widow it was purchased by public subscription in 1821 for the Duke de Bordeaux, who took the title of Count de Chambord. The chteau was purchased by the state in 1930. Tourism is the village industry. Pop. (1990) 214.