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Château of Blois
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Château of Blois
The Royal Château of Blois (French: Château Royal de Blois, pronounced [ʃɑto ʁwajal də blwa]) is a château located in the city center of Blois, Loir-et-Cher, in the Loire Valley, France. In addition to having been the residence of the Counts of Blois and some French kings, Joan of Arc also went there by 1429 to be blessed by the Archbishop of Reims before departing with her army to drive out the English, who conquered Orléans the previous year.
The château effectively controlled the County of Blois up to 1397, then the Duchy of Orléans, and the Kingdom of France between 1498 and 1544. It comprises several buildings, whose construction began in the 13th century and ended in the 17th century. Four different architectural styles are represented within the rectangular edifice, including: some remains of the 13th-century medieval fortress, the Louis XII Gothic-style wing, the Francis I Renaissance-style wing, and the Gaston of Orléans Classical-style wing.
The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Blois (Museum of Fine Arts of Blois), located in the Louis XII wing, presents collections of painting, sculpture, and decorative arts (including numerous tapestries) dating from the 16th to the 19th century. It was created in 1850.
In 854, the Blois castle, known as Blisum castrum, it was attacked by the Viking cheftain Hastein. In the 10th and 11th centuries, the Counts of Blois, who also owned Chartres and Champagne, joined together to rebuild the fortress. Count Theobald I raised a so-called "big tower" and by the end of the 12th century, the Counts' contributions were finished by building the St-Sauveur Collegiate Church.
The "Estates General Room" (Salle des États Généraux in French), built at the beginning of the 13th century, is one of the oldest seignoral rooms preserved in France, and is also the largest remaining civilian Gothic room in the country. This room was used as a court of justice by the Counts of Blois and again in 1576 and 1588 during sessions of the Estates General.
The medieval castle was given in 1397 to Louis I, Duke of Orléans, brother of Charles VI. After Louis' assassination, his widow, Valentina Visconti, retired to the Blois Castle. It was later inherited by their son, Charles d'Orléans the poet, who was captured at the Agincourt and imprisoned in England. After 25 years as a hostage in England, Charles d'Orleans returned to his beloved Blois and partly helped rebuild the château as a more commodious dwelling. It became the favourite royal residence and the kingdom's political capital under Charles' son, when Count Louis II became King Louis XII of France in 1498.
At the beginning of the 16th century, King Louis XII initiated a reconstruction of the entrance of the main block and the creation of an Italian garden in terraced parterres where Victor Hugo Square stands today.
This wing, of red brick and grey stone, forms the main entrance to a proper château, and features a statue of the mounted king above the entrance. Although the style is principally Gothic, as the profiles of mouldings, the lobed arches and the pinnacles attest, there are elements of Renaissance architecture present, such as a small chandelier.
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Château of Blois
The Royal Château of Blois (French: Château Royal de Blois, pronounced [ʃɑto ʁwajal də blwa]) is a château located in the city center of Blois, Loir-et-Cher, in the Loire Valley, France. In addition to having been the residence of the Counts of Blois and some French kings, Joan of Arc also went there by 1429 to be blessed by the Archbishop of Reims before departing with her army to drive out the English, who conquered Orléans the previous year.
The château effectively controlled the County of Blois up to 1397, then the Duchy of Orléans, and the Kingdom of France between 1498 and 1544. It comprises several buildings, whose construction began in the 13th century and ended in the 17th century. Four different architectural styles are represented within the rectangular edifice, including: some remains of the 13th-century medieval fortress, the Louis XII Gothic-style wing, the Francis I Renaissance-style wing, and the Gaston of Orléans Classical-style wing.
The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Blois (Museum of Fine Arts of Blois), located in the Louis XII wing, presents collections of painting, sculpture, and decorative arts (including numerous tapestries) dating from the 16th to the 19th century. It was created in 1850.
In 854, the Blois castle, known as Blisum castrum, it was attacked by the Viking cheftain Hastein. In the 10th and 11th centuries, the Counts of Blois, who also owned Chartres and Champagne, joined together to rebuild the fortress. Count Theobald I raised a so-called "big tower" and by the end of the 12th century, the Counts' contributions were finished by building the St-Sauveur Collegiate Church.
The "Estates General Room" (Salle des États Généraux in French), built at the beginning of the 13th century, is one of the oldest seignoral rooms preserved in France, and is also the largest remaining civilian Gothic room in the country. This room was used as a court of justice by the Counts of Blois and again in 1576 and 1588 during sessions of the Estates General.
The medieval castle was given in 1397 to Louis I, Duke of Orléans, brother of Charles VI. After Louis' assassination, his widow, Valentina Visconti, retired to the Blois Castle. It was later inherited by their son, Charles d'Orléans the poet, who was captured at the Agincourt and imprisoned in England. After 25 years as a hostage in England, Charles d'Orleans returned to his beloved Blois and partly helped rebuild the château as a more commodious dwelling. It became the favourite royal residence and the kingdom's political capital under Charles' son, when Count Louis II became King Louis XII of France in 1498.
At the beginning of the 16th century, King Louis XII initiated a reconstruction of the entrance of the main block and the creation of an Italian garden in terraced parterres where Victor Hugo Square stands today.
This wing, of red brick and grey stone, forms the main entrance to a proper château, and features a statue of the mounted king above the entrance. Although the style is principally Gothic, as the profiles of mouldings, the lobed arches and the pinnacles attest, there are elements of Renaissance architecture present, such as a small chandelier.
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