Music of a Water Fountain

"I had a dream about you. 

You were a statue made of bronze, and I was in love with you. 

I tried to be patient, but I wanted more action than you could give me, 

so eventually I fell in love with a water fountain."

Jarod Kintz

France, Loire Valley - Château de Serrant II (The Interior)

Most western of the famous Loire Valley castles, Serrant has always been lived in and fully furnished since the 17th century. 

Chateau de Serrant is renowned for the beauty of its apartments. 

Behind its harmonious façade, the inside of this Renaissance castle is luxuriously decorated, 

and it's home to a superb collection of antique furniture, tapestries, paintings, 

and other works of art collected over a period of 400 years.

The beautiful staircase with a sculpted ceiling is a fine example of Renaissance design 

and you will be equally impressed by this, as well as by the magnificent Duke’s library - apparently housing over 12.000 volumes.

You can also visit Napoleon's bedroom (which was never used by the Emperor as he stayed at the castle for only two hours), 

the main lounge, the Empire room, the chapel, 
the cellars that have been redesigned as kitchens with beautiful medieval vaulted halls, etc.

Everything will delight fans of period interiors.

Soak up the sense of history 

which co-exists in harmony with the friendly atmosphere of a house which has never ceased to be inhabited. 

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

The chateau you see today is as it was originally built, 

and the feeling of stepping back in time is only enhanced by a visit inside where it is impressively decorated and furnished. 

As with many of the Loire chateaux, ladies played a major part in its construction and decoration 

with Marguerite Gaillard (Mrs Hurault) administrating the building work and her daughter completing the decoration.   

The interior reflects a living history of the family generations. 

The rooms and apartments are especially richly furnished, and reflect a highly refined style, with gilded and decorative furniture, 

numerous paintings and priceless tapestries all through the chateau, 

and walls sometimes decorated in vibrant colours. 

(Remember to keep looking up - some of the decorated ceilings are among the highlights.)

The wonderful range of furniture and interior decorations, are all remarkably well preserved.

The private apartments on the first floor convey the French ‘art de vivre’ (art of living), 

with rooms such as the birth chamber, the nursery, the private dining room and others.

It is generally agreed that Cheverny is the most beautifully furnished of all the castles in the Loire Valley, 

and you will see numerous beautiful examples of 17th century furniture and wall coverings, 

as well as ornaments, clothes and other small objects that help bring the visit to life.

France, Loire Valley - Château de Chambord II (The Interior)

The reputation of "emptiness" that the château carries is not entirely true. 

It is true that, from the beginning, the château was not designed to be a permanent residence. 

The travelling court changed residences with the seasons and the furnishings for the royal dwellings were necessarily temporary. 

It was logical that the château remain unfurnished.

The plan to historically refurnish the building is based on a scientific method. 

The old inventories are analysed to understand them deeply 

and then decide how the interior space would have been occupied, in order to create logical reconstitution. 

There was no use in embarking upon a vast quest to find and bring together pieces 

that had been scattered to the far corners of France and beyond.

 No need either to create the illusion, 

to make visitors feel that the furniture they are seeing was actually used at Chambord at a specific time.

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.