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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

Hotel Sardini is an iconic building in the centre of Blois, built in the 16th century under the reign of Louis XII for Pierre Bernlet. Its architecture combines late Gothic influences and Renaissance motifs, as evidenced by the Italianising arabesques of its gallery, inspired by the Louis XII wing gallery of Blois Castle. The building also maintains a painted-walled oratory and a fireplace decorated in the style of Fontainebleau School, added or modified over the centuries.

Acquired around 1560 by the Italian banker Scipion Sardini, close to Catherine de Medici, the hotel reflects the cultural exchanges between France and Italy during the Renaissance. The Queen, who frequently stayed in Blois, probably influenced her layout. Despite transformations in the 19th century (deletion of a wing and decorations), the hotel preserved major elements such as its stair tower, its inner courtyard, and wall paintings dating from the 4th quarter of the 15th or early 16th century. The latter, along with the missing painted woodwork, illustrate the transition between the flamboyant Gothic and the First Renaissance.

Ranked a historic monument in 1963 (façades, roofs, oratory and fireplace) and registered since 1927 for the rest of the building, the Hotel Sardini remains a private property. Its legal protection guarantees the preservation of its interior and exterior decorations, including carved dolphins and horns, local interpretation of Italian motifs. The site, located 7 rue du Puits-Châtel, neighbouring with other private hotels such as the Vareilles hotel, in a historic area marked by the urban boom of Blois in the Renaissance.

Successive restorations maintained the integrity of the building, although some parts ( stables, commons) disappeared when the plot was reduced in the 19th century. The museum, the monumental fireplace and the remains of the gallery open today bear witness to its past prestige. The Hotel Sardini thus embodies the mixture of styles and influences that characterized the French Renaissance, between medieval heritage and Italianising innovations.

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