France, Loire Valley - Château de Blois VI (The Town)

The Chateau's exteriors offer an exceptional panorama spanning several centuries of French architecture

 and encompassing the town of Blois and the Loire valley.

Among the most important events to take place at Blois Castle, Joan of Arc came here in 1429 to be blessed 

before setting off to drive the English from Orleans.

Joan got her army and set off along the Loire which, then as now, was an unpredictable thoroughfare: 

sometimes in torrential flood, sometimes just trickling through grassy shallows. 

Crossing points were few and far between, so towns with bridges tended to attract most of the fighting. 

And exploring these today, you find that almost all of them have Jeanne d'Arc streets and statues, 

houses where she stayed and churches where she prayed. 

Passing through Tours, her first significant stop was Blois: 

a town filled with history from later periods and famous for an urban chateau with architectural features that weren't there in 1429, 

so Joan wouldn't have seen them as she marshaled her troops and had her standard blessed by the local prelate.

But she'd have seen the view from the terrace, across the river to the open countryside beyond...

France, Loire Valley - Château de Blois V (The Art)

Major works by famous artists (Ingres, Rubens, Boucher, etc.) highlight the Chateau's collections, 

making it one of the most important fine arts museums from France.

France, Loire Valley - Château de Blois IV (The Interior)

In 1850, the Blois authorities wished to showcase local culture 

and decided to create a museum of fine arts in the François I wing as an artistic pole of attraction, 

so the Museum of Fine Arts presence was rendered official.

No sooner had it opened, than the gifts and donations of artists or non-artists, 

consignments from the State and a miscellany of acquisitions were lodged in the museum. 

Collections grew so quickly and extensively that by 1851, more rooms had to be occupied. 

 Responses to appeals for donations have contributed to the creation of an eclectic collection of artistic, 

archaeological and ethnological objects that reflect the general history of the arts. 

State depositories for artwork and recent acquisitions have continued to enrich a composite entity 

consisting primarily in remarkable 16th and 17th century works related to the castle's history, 

and it is presently containing some 35000 items.

Each room in the museum is devoted to a single theme in the history of Western art, 

and the theme-based circuit, which eschews the usual chronological sequencing, 

is at once specific to the Blois Museum of Fine Arts, and a museographic innovation. 

Indeed, the museum offers a new way of viewing art history 

by grouping works from different epochs that were devoted to a given subject. 

France, Loire Valley - Château de Blois III (The Gaston of Orleans Classic Wing)

The Gaston of Orleans Classic Wing (1635-1638)

Brother of Louis XIII and heir to the throne, in 1634, Gaston d'Orleans decided to erect in Blois a totally new castle. 

His chosen architect was François Mansart, who built a main dwelling house 

that should have represented the first step to a large-scale, highly ambitious reconstruction project. 

However, the work was curtailed in 1638 by the birth of the future Louis XIV, 

whose arrival removed him from succession to the throne and deprived him of financing. 

Never fully completed, the dwelling house was built according to 17th-century taste, 

in a classical architecture style that prefigures Versailles: 

columns, pilasters, capitals and pediments pay tribute to antique Greek architecture. 

Inside, the most spectacular element of decor is the vault adorned with trophies and masks, and topped by a cupola.

France, Loire Valley - Château de Blois II (The François I Renaissance Wing)

The François I Renaissance wing (1515-1518)

In 1515, right after having acceded to the throne, François I initiated the first building project of his reign 

by erecting in Blois an edifice inspired by the Italian Renaissance. 

On the courtyard side, the majestic facade has in its center the François I staircase 

whose massive buttresses vividly contrast with the light picture windows. 

As for the exterior facade, it is inspired by the facades of the lodges elaborated by Bramante in the Vatican. 

At the time of their construction, the lodges offered a view of the gardens created for Louis XII and Anne, the Duchess of Brittany.