Château of Blois

300px|thumb|upright=2|Interior façades in Classic, Renaissance, and Gothic styles (from left to right)

thumb|300px|Château de Blois, lithograph by C. Molle from a drawing by [[Charles-Caïus Renoux]]

The Royal Château of Blois (, ) 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.

History

thumb|left|Interior of the Estates General Room

Counts of Blois

In 854, the Blois castle, known as Blisum castrum, it was attacked by the Viking cheftain Hastein. Over the course of the 10th and 11th centuries, the Counts of Blois, who also owned Chartres and Champagne, rebuilt 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. After the death of his wife in 1524, he spent very little time at Blois and the massive library was moved to the royal Palace of Fontainebleau. It is this library that formed the royal library and the backbone of the .

File:Blois1900.jpg|The rear of the Francis I wing, facing over central Blois in the 1890s

File:ChateaudeBloisFacadedesLoges.jpg|The rear of the wing in 2007

File:Blois Château de Blois Innenhof Francois-I-Flügel 3.jpg|The château's most renowned feature, the spiral staircase in the Francis I wing

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Since King Louis XII was very committed in the Italian Wars, which imported the Renaissance movement into Blois, this wing's architecture and ornamentation are marked by Italian influence. In the middle, there is the monumental spiral staircase, covered with fine bas-relief sculptures and looking out onto the château's central court. These monumental staircases served as a draft for those of the Château de Chambord, built a few years later. Behind this wing is the "Lodges Façade" ( in French), characterised by a series of disconnected niches.

King Henry III

Driven from Paris during the French Wars of Religion, King Henry III took refuge in Blois, and summoned the Estates General meetings there in 1576 and 1588. On 23 December 1588, the King's arch-enemy from the Day of the Barricades, Henry I, Duke of Guise, was assassinated by the King's bodyguard. The following day, the King also had the Duke's brother, Louis II, Cardinal of Guise, murdered within the château.

thumb|The "King's Chamber" with King Henry IV's H in the floor tiles

thumb|right|The "Chamber of Secrets", allegedly believed to be [[Catherine de' Medici's secret hiding place for poisons]]

King Henry IV

After this, the castle was occupied by King Henry IV, the first Bourbon monarch. On Henry's death in 1610, it became the place of exile for his widow, Marie de' Medici, when she was expelled from the court of her son, King Louis XIII. The task of developing this new castle was given to François Mansart. This allowed state funds to be used in the preservation.