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The Château Royal de Blois
A « test laboratory » of sorts, the Château Royal de Blois bears witness to its long, complex architectural history. It could be said that there are four different chateaux from four different eras around its courtyard : the medieval fortress with the Salle des États Généraux and the Tour du Foix ; the Gothic wing of Louis XII, built in the late 15th century, with its innovative, luxurious ornamentation ; the François I wing, influenced by Italy and characteristic of the early French Renaissance, with its inspired monumental spiral staircase and the magnificent Façade des Loges ; and the Gaston d'Orléans wing, typical of 17th-century French classical architecture, with its sober exterior facade concealing the cupola and extravagant stairwell designed by François Mansart. The chateau continues to bear the traces of the various architectural experiments, as new buildings slotted into the older ones with every period. These innovative ways of conceiving the built space over the centuries reflect the striking singularity of the Château Royal de Blois, still stubbornly turning its back on the Loire.
