Château Royal de Blois

Blois’ château and the former royal seatwas were intended more as an architectural showpiece than a military stronghold, and successive French kings have left their creative mark over the centuries. From the château’s huge central courtyard you can view four distinct periods of French architecture: the Gothic Salle des États and original medieval castle; François I’s Renaissance north wing (1515–24); the classical west wing (1635–38) constructed under Gaston d’Orléans, brother to Louis XIII; and Louis XII’s red-brick Flamboyant Gothic east wing (1498–1503).

The impressive Salle des États Généraux (Estates General Hall, c 1220) has a soaring double barrel-vaulted roof decorated in royal blues and golden fleurs-de-lis. Blois’ medieval lords meted out justice here in the Middle Ages, and Luc Besson used it for the dramatic trial scene in his 1999 biopic Jeanne d’Arc.

The most famous feature of the Renaissance wing, the royal apartments of François I and Queen Claude, is the loggia staircase, decorated with salamanders and curly ‘F’s (heraldic symbols of François I). Highlights include the bedchamber in which Catherine de Médicis (Henri II’s machiavellian wife) died in 1589. According to Alexandre Dumas, the queen stashed her poisons in secret cupboards behind the elaborately panelled walls of the studiolo, one of the few rooms in the castle with its original decor.

The 2nd-floor king’s apartments were the setting for one of the bloodiest episodes in the château’s history: in 1588 Henri III had his arch-rival, Duke Henri I de Guise, murdered by royal bodyguards (the king hid behind a tapestry). He had the Duke’s brother, the Cardinal de Guise, killed the next day. Henri III was himself murdered just eight months later by a vengeful monk. Period paintings chronicle the gruesome events.

The brick-and-stone Louis XII wing houses the Musée des Beaux-Arts, where the most popular work is a portrait of an alarmingly hairy girl (apparently the result of a rare genetic disease) by the Italian painter Lavinia Fontana.

The château hosts a 45-minute son et lumière (tel: 02 54 55 26 31; adult/child €7/4; mid-Apr–late Sep) featuring huge projections on the walls (English version Wednesdays).