SpottingHistory.com is an independent site to provide reliable traveling tips to historic sites and sights all around the world. The site is made by individuals interested in history and historic places all around the world. The purpose is to provide an easy-use, map-based service to help people find interesting places to visit on their journeys.
The The main page displays you the top 200 most interesting (based on views and user rating) sites in the current map area. When you browse or zoom the map, sites will be updated dynamically.
When you zoom in, you will always see more and more complete list of all historic sites in map area.
On the right hand (below the map on mobile devices) you will see list of topmost interesting sites in the present map area. If you click any site link you will see the overview window. You can take a look at photos of selected attraction by clicking them. If you want to see more information about selected site, just click the Read More link at the bottom of info window. It will open a complete description of the selected site. Show on Map button correspondingly zooms and centers map to the selected site.
On the description page you will see all information of the selected attraction. You can also comment the site to help other people to decide where to visit or not.
Top Sights page shows the editor's picks of interesting historic sights for example in a city of region.
Tags page helps you to find all sites tagged with a specific tag, like Top Historic Sites in Helsinki.
Historical Periods gives you information of specific historical period in a selected country and lists the most interesting sites from that period.
City Guides comprise the all historic sites in a specific city.
SpottingHistory.com uses photo material loaded from Flickr or Wikimedia Commons. In every case we respect copyrights and all photos are always showed with adequate copyright information. If you want SpottingHistory.com not to use your photos in previously mentioned web services, please contact us using the form below and we will remove links. No photos or thumbnails are copied or stored into SpottingHistory.com servers, only imagelinks via service provider API's. If you upload new site, the photos you can select to be shown on the site page are automatically allowed for commercial use.
All map icons are downloaded from the Map Icons Collection. We thank Nicolas Mollet for this great service helping us to develop SpottingHistory.com.
If you have any questions, new ideas or you just wish to tell what rocks/sucks, please do not hesitate to contact us using the form below. We would be also very thankful if you notify us about any problems you encounter when using this site.
The Château de Chaumont was founded in the 10th century by Odo I, Count of Blois. The purpose was to protect his lands from attacks from his feudal rivals, Fulk Nerra, Count of Anjou. On his behalf the Norman Gelduin received it, improved it and held it as his own. His great-niece Denise de Fougère, having married Sulpice d'Amboise, passed the château into the Amboise family for five centuries.
Pierre d'Amboise unsuccessfully rebelled against King Louis XI and his property was confiscated, and the castle was dismantled on royal order in 1465. It was later rebuilt by Charles I d'Amboise from 1465–1475 and then finished by his son, Charles II d'Amboise de Chaumont from 1498–1510, with help from his uncle, Cardinal Georges d'Amboise; some Renaissance features were to be seen in buildings that retained their overall medieval appearance. The château was acquired by Catherine de Medici in 1550. There she entertained numerous astrologers, among them Nostradamus. When her husband, Henry II, died in 1559 she forced his mistress, Diane de Poitiers, to exchange Château de Chaumont for Château de Chenonceau which Henry had given to de Poitiers. Diane de Poitiers only lived at Chaumont for a short while.
Later Chaumont has changed hands several times. Paul de Beauvilliers bought the château in 1699, modernized some of its interiors and decorated it with sufficient grandeur to house the duc d'Anjou on his way to become king of Spain in 1700. Monsieur Bertin demolished the north wing to open the house towards the river view in the modern fashion.
In 1750, Jacques-Donatien Le Ray purchased the castle as a country home where he established a glassmaking and pottery factory. He was considered the French "Father of the American Revolution" because he loved America. However, in 1789, the new French Revolutionary Government seized Le Ray's assets, including his beloved Château de Chaumont.
The castle has been classified as a Monument historique since 1840 by the French Ministry of Culture. The Château de Chaumont is currently a museum and every year hosts a Garden Festival from April to October where contemporary garden designers display their work in an English-style garden.