Between the construction of Amiens and Salisbury and the building of the Château of Chambord (shong-bore´) lie two centuries of history. In them the spiritual power of the church, and the temporal power of the pope and clergy, which had been supreme throughout the Middle Ages, gave way to a large extent to a spirit of individualism and a rising power on the part of the king and nobles. This change had its effect upon the arts. The palace took precedence over the church in architecture as the secular took precedence over the religious in painting and the other arts. The Château of Chambord dates from the earlier stages of this new architectural era. Built by King Francis I in the early years of the sixteenth century, it is but one of the hundreds of châteaux erected by the kings and nobles of France, from Francis to the fall of the monarchy. Its architectural style is what is known as early Renaissance. The claim of Chambord to beauty is due, not so much to its decoration as to its imposing size, to the sense of spaciousness it conveys, and to the manner in which it reflects the spirit of its age. Four hundred feet square along its outer walls, this vast château was designed by Francis I merely as a hunting seat. The chief exterior attraction of the building lies in its roof. This is a very maze of gables, dormers, chimneys, and cupolas, dominated by the lantern that crowns the center stair, and in which lights were hung to guide belated hunters from the forest. THE STAIRWAY OF CHAMBORD [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. NEW YORK CITY HALL [Illustration: STAIRWAY IN THE NEW YORK CITY HALL.]