Encyclopedia
Tours is a city in
France, the
préfecture of the
Indre-et-Loire département, on the lower reaches of the river
Loire, between
Orléans and the
Atlantic coast.
Touraine, the region around Tours, is known for its
wines and for the perfection of its local spoken
French. It is also the site of the
cycling race Paris-Tours.
History
The name of the city comes from the ancient
Gallic tribe called the Turones. In Roman times it was known as
Turonensis. The modern name, Tours, coincidentally corresponds to the French word
tours, "towers". In the mid-3rd century Gatianus was sent from Rome to reorganize a small Christian community.
Saint Martin of Tours was bishop of Tours at the end of the
4th century, and his tomb became a major
pilgrimage site; the church of Saint-Martin was one of the great Romanesque pilgrimage churches, like Saint-Sernin in
Toulouse and
Santiago de Compostela, and the powerful bishops of Tours, such as Gregory of Tours, were personages to be reckoned with for the Merovingian kings.
The Council of Tours was celebrated here in 567.
The
Battle of Tours was fought on October 10, 732 between forces under the
Frankish leader
Charles Martel and an
Islamic force led by Emir Abdul Rahman al-Ghafiq. The Franks soundly defeated the Islamic army and stopped the northward invading advance of Islam from its then base in
Spain.
The Touraine was a county at the time of the Carolingian rulers . The
Vikings pillaged the town in 853 and 903. By 1044 it was held by the counts of Anjou. During the reign of
Philip II, the Livre Tournois was adopted as the international currency of France.
In the
16th and
17th centuries, Tours had a significant
Huguenot population, many of which had been responsible for the building of a huge
silk industry. With the Edict of Nantes rescinded in 1685 and the resulting slaughter of thousands of Protestants, the Huguenots fled the country and the once flourishing silk industry of Tours, vanished forever. Some of the Huguenots settled in
Ireland where their weaving skills saw them establish some of the great Irish
linen factories.
From October 7, 1870 to February 6, 1871, Tours served as the provincial capital of the Government of National Defense, conducting French affairs during the
Franco-Prussian War.
Léon Gambetta chose Tours to act as a secondary capital, as
Paris at the time was under siege by the Prussian Army.
Main sights
Cathedral of Tours
Main article: Cathedral of ToursThe
cathedral of Tours, dedicated to Saint Gatien, its canonized first bishop, was begun about 1170 to replace the just-started cathedral that was burnt out in 1166, during the quarrel between Louis VII of France and
Henry II of England. The lowermost stages of the west towers belong to the 12th century, but the rest of the west end is in the profusely detailed
Flamboyant Gothic of the 15th century, completed just as the
Renaissance was affecting less traditional patrons than bishops, in the pleasure châteaux of Touraine. These towers were being constructed at the same time as, for example,
Château de Chenonceau.
When the 15th century illuminator
Jean Fouquet was set the task of illumninating
Josephus's
Jewish Antiquities, his depiction of
Solomon's Temple was modeled after the nearly-complete Cathedral of Tours. The atmosphere of the Gothic cathedral close permeates
Honoré de Balzac's dark short novel of jealousy and provincial intrigues,
Le Curé de Tours and his medieval story
Maitre Cornelius opens within the cathedral itself.
Language
The inhabitants of Tours are renowned for speaking the purest form of French in the entire country. The pronunciation of Touraine is widely regarded as the most perfect pronunciation of the
French language, devoid of any accent . Gregory of Tours wrote in the
6th century that some people in his area could still speak
Gaulish.
City
The center of Tours has a population of 137,000. Tours is called "Le Jardin de la France" . There are several parks located within the city, as well as a
cedar tree near the Cathedral planted by Napoleon. Tours is located between two rivers, the Loire on the north and the Cher on the south. The buildings of Tours are white with blue
slate roofs which is common in the north of France .
Tours is famous for its old part of the city called
Le Vieux Tours with medieval style houses in half-timbering and
Place Plumereau, a square with pubs and restaurants full of people who dine and drink outside at tables filling the center of the square. Boulevard Beranger crosses Rue Nationale at Place Jean-Jaures, and is the location of weekly markets and fairs.
In front of the cathedral in the city of Tours, is a huge cedar tree planted by Napoleon himself.
Transportation
Today, with its extensive rail and autoroute links to the rest of the country, Tours is a jumping off point for tourist visits to the
Loire Valley and the
chateaux of the kings.
Tours is on one of the main lines of the TGV. You can travel down the Western coast to
Bordeaux in two hours and a half, or to the
Mediterranean coast via
Avignon and from there to
Spain and
Barcelona. It takes one hour by train from Tours to Paris by TGV. Tours has two main stations, a central station and
St Pierre Des Corps, which is just outside the center, and is the station which trains that don't terminate in Tours go through.
Tours Loire Valley Airport connects the Loire Valley to
London Stansted Airport. This link is provided by the Irish airline
Ryanair. National connections to
Lyon and Figari on
Corsica are available, too.
Tours doesn't have a metro rail system, instead there is a very efficient bus service, the main central stop being
Jean Jaures, which is next to the Hotel de Ville, and
rue Nationale, the
high street of Tours. A tram is planned to be built in the next few years.
Miscellaneous
Births
Tours was the birthplace of:
...
, artist
...
, dramatist and novelist
...
, automobile pioneer
See also
- Bishop of Tours
- Tours FC - a soccer club based in the town.
External links
