Picturesquely situated on two hills above the right bank of the Loire, Blois, dominated by its famous Château and its cathedral, is the chief town of the département of Loir-et-Cher and the see of a bishop. It lies in the center of a rich agricultural area and is noted for its electrical and leatherworking industries. Denis Papin, inventor of
the pressure cooker and the autoclave, was born in Blois in 1648. Blois was the Roman settlement of Blesum, and in the Middle Ages the chief town of the County of Blésois or Blaisois. In 1397 it passed to Louis of Orléans when it became a royal residence, and in the reigns of Louis XII and Francis I played a similar role to that of Versailles in the reign of Louis XIV.
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