. Castles and chateaux of old Touraine and the Loire country. than a quar-ter of a century after its introduction intoFrance by Charles VIII., — if he really wasresponsible for its importation from lacked nothing of daring, and builtand embellished a structure which to-day, inspite of numerous shortcomings, stands as thesupreme type of a great Renaissance domesticedifice of state. Every device of decorationand erratic suggestion seems to have been car-ried out, not only structurally, as in the greatdouble spiral of its central stairway, but in itsinterpolated details and symboli
. Castles and chateaux of old Touraine and the Loire country. than a quar-ter of a century after its introduction intoFrance by Charles VIII., — if he really wasresponsible for its importation from lacked nothing of daring, and builtand embellished a structure which to-day, inspite of numerous shortcomings, stands as thesupreme type of a great Renaissance domesticedifice of state. Every device of decorationand erratic suggestion seems to have been car-ried out, not only structurally, as in the greatdouble spiral of its central stairway, but in itsinterpolated details and symbolism as well. It was at this time, too, that Frangois beganto introduce the famous salamander into his Chambord 99 devices and ciphers; that most significant em-blem which one may yet see on wall and ceil-ing of Chambord surrounded by the motto: Je me nourris et je meurs dans le feu. Chambord, first of all, gives one a very highopinion of Francois Premier, and of the splen-dours with which he was wont to surroundhimself. The apartments are large and numer-. Arms of Franpois Premier, at Chambord ous and are admirably planned and decorated,though, almost without exception, bare to-dayof furniture or furnishings. To quote the opinion of Blondel, the cele-brated French architect: The Chateau deChambord, built under Frangois I. andHenri II., from the designs of Primatice, wasnever achieved according to the original XIII. and Louis XIV. contributed a cer- 100 Old Touraine and the Loire Country tain completeness, but the work was reallypursued afterward according to the notions ofone Sertio. The masterpiece of its constructive elementsis its wonderful doubly spiralled central stair-case, which permits one to ascend or descendwithout passing another proceeding in theopposite direction at the same time. Whatevermay have been the real significance of thisgreat double spiral, it has been said that itplayed its not unimportant part in the intrigueand scandal of the time. It cert
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherbosto, bookyear1906
