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Origin and history

The hotel of Épernon, located on the promontory of the castle of Blois, was originally part of the hotel of Amboise, built at the beginning of the 16th century for Cardinal Georges of Amboise, minister of Louis XII. In 1588, the building was divided into two separate residences, one of which was attributed to the 1st Duke of Épernon, Jean-Louis de Nogaret de La Valette, a favourite of King Henry III. The latter, after the General States of 1589, entrusted to the Duke the military command of Blois, suggesting an extended stay in these places.

In June 1940, during the German bombardments on Blois, the hotels of Epernon and Amboise were destroyed by order of the curator of the municipal museum to avoid the spread of a fire to the castle. The identical reconstruction took place after the Liberation, although architectural details and precise dates of the work remain undocumented. In 1950, the Amboise hotel seemed already rebuilt, marking the restoration of a heritage linked to the French Renaissance.

The architecture of the Hotel d'Epernon reflects its late medieval origin, with Gothic elements such as prismatic moulurations dated the 4th quarter of the 15th century. Major repairs were undertaken in 1629 under the property of the Duke of Épernon, followed by a restoration of the facades in the 4th quarter of the 19th century by architect Lafargue. Ranked a Historic Monument in 1938, the building illustrates the evolution of aristocratic residences between Renaissance and modern times.

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