This castle and chateau joins together 4 parts of different periods, illustrating 4 major styles in French castle architecture.

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3 different styles. Left to right: aisle François I, states general room, aisle Louis XII

It also is famous in history (and literature) to be the place where king Henri III murdered Duke Henri de Guise and arrested his two brothers, thus destroying the catholic Holy League that threatened his throne, and opening the way to his legal successor, his cousin Henri king of Navarre (then known as Henri IV).
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the royal appartments (where murder occured) from the gardens outside

The castle of Blois was built in the early Xth century by the counts of Blois. The remaining medieval parts date from XIIth century. They consist in the “States General Room”, the foix tower, and the base of western and eastern walls.
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the south-eastern angle and its medieval glacis

The states general room is actually the largest medieval room in France. It used to be the lordly home, before the castle was modified during the renaissance. Its name comes from the gathering of the States general by Henri III the eve of the assassination of Duke Henri de Guise.
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the foix tower. Alas i have no pic of the state gen. room, which actually is close for renovation !

In 1498, Louis XII rebuilds the old fortress in the renaissance Italian style he has admired during his military campaigns in Italy. He starts with the entrance home, and chooses polychromic oppositions of white stone and bricks (red and black). He ads a monumental statue above the main door, leading to a gallery with columns, associating the old medieval inside yard to the delicate new architecture. The second aisle, where he had his apartments has now disappeared.
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The main door, in the aisle Louis XII

Indeed, in 1515 his nephew, king Francois I, rebuilds the eastern aisle. In less than 15 years, the architectural style has changed to reach maturity. The masterpiece of that aisle is of course the spiral stairs. This one is very traditional in French castles : the stairs are in the inner yard, and built outwork. In this case, the staircase is octagonal, and underlined by balconies with fine sculptures.
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The insides of the castle have been restored in the early XIX century, with lots of colors and paintings. They nowadays are used as a museum for renaissance paintings. The only original part is the cabinet of Marie de Médicis (the mother of Henri III) which has remained intact. There still can be seen the delicate woodwork, and the secret cupboards (which the literature have transformed into poison cupboards).
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The cabinolo, or cabinet of poisons (according to Alexandre Dumas), of Catherine de Medicis.

Finally, in 1635, Louis XIII gives the castle to his restless brother, Gaston d’Orleans. He asks François Mansart (the future architect of Versailles) to build a new aisle in the north.
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on that one, you can see very clearly the junction between the two aisles, and the two architectures of François I and Gaston d'Orleans
The architecture is then very classic, with a huge dome staircase, roman & Greek statues and a majestic porch. In order to build the northern aisle, the chapel was destroyed, save for the choir, which still stands, as a tiny chapel.

Plans and general view
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Official website :
http://www.ville-blois.fr/tourisme/chateau-blois.htm

Other sites of interest :
http://www.cliosoft.fr/Blois/anime_blois_high.htm
http://www.casteland.com/pfr/chateau/centr...blois/blois.htm
http://www.loire-france.com/visites/chatea...lois/index.html

These are views of the coffered ceiling of the cabinolo of Catherine de medicis.

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These are beautiful Fred...thank you once again for all your info!

Hey Fred, these are inlays correct?

as far as i remember, they looked more like gold paintings.
the wood is engraved, and the engravings painted with gold.

i took this pic of a model of the staircase, too, which permits to really see the structure...
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and talking about models, i really like this one -almost clearer than a plan
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A is the XIII century States General Room
B is the LOuis XII aisle (1498-1503)
C is the François I aisle (1515-1524)
D is the Gaston d'Orléans aisle (1635-1638)
E is the renaissance chapel - the remaining choir, in fact.
F is the XIIIth century Foix tower, and the medieval wall & glacis.

I really like that staircase. What a nice feature for a courtyard.