[Illustration: TOWER OF THE GRAND STAIRCASE
_Château de Chambord._]
This stairway is the chief attraction of the interior. Sweeping round
a central newel which forms an open well, it rises the full height of
the building. Moreover, it is not a single flight of steps, but two,
so placed that one person may go up and one come down, yet never meet.
From this stairway four large halls open at every floor, and four
hundred and forty rooms and fifty other stairs fill up the wings of
this great palace. The interior, when richly furnished, must have been
magnificent.
In spite of its size, Chambord has little history of which to boast.
Nothing of importance or even of special interest took place there.