France · 13th century
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.
Text adapted from “Château of Blois” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Château de Blois ranks #143 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #19 of the 793 mapped in France. Founded c. 1250, it is older than 67% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 1080 atlas entries founded in the 13th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 20,812 times in the last 60 days, more than 97% of the atlas. 9 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Blois, 1 km away. It is one of the 73 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of the Loire Valley. It is stop 24 of 32 on the Loire Valley château route, Angers to Orléans. See how France compares in the castle statistics.
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