Tours Tours TVP Category="Tours"
Tours
Country
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     France
Région Centre
Département Indre-et-Loire
(Préfecture)
Arrondissement Tours
Canton Chief town of 7 cantons
INSEE Code 37261
Postal code 37000, 37100, 37200
Mayor
Term of office 		Jean Germain
2001-2007
Intercommunality Communauté
d'agglomération
Tours Plus
Longitude 00° 41' 21" E
Latitude 47° 23' 37" N
Altitude average:
minimum: 44 m
maximum: 109 m
Area 34.36 km²
Population without
double-counting		132,820 (1999)
Population density 3,866 pers/km²

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Tours is a city in France, the Préfecture (capital city) 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 (Saint Gatien) 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 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 defeated the Islamic army and stopped the northward advance of Islam from Spain.

The Touraine was a county at the time of the Carolingian rulers (751 to 987 AD). 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 (Tours Pound) 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 With the Edict of Nantes rescinded in 1685 and the resulting slaughter of thousands of Protestants, the Huguenots fled the country and the once flourishing silk industry of Tours, vanished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.

Cathedral of Tours

Main article: Cathedral of Tours

The 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 (illustration, right) 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 (The Curate of Tours) and his medieval story Maitre Cornelius opens within the cathedral itself.

Language

The inhabitants of Tours (Tourangeaux) 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 (in opposition to most other regions of France, including Paris).

City

The center of Tours has a population of 137,000. Tours is called "Au Jardin de la France" (The garden of France). There is a large park in the city center, and a Cedar tree near the Cathedral. Tours is on the Loire river, which splits just to the west of the city, and so Tours has a river on both its northern and southern sides. The buildings of Tours are white with black Slate roofs which is common in the north, whilest in the south the buildings have Terra cotta roofs.

Tours is famous for its old part of the city called Le Vieux Tours with its Tudor style houses in half-timbering and La Place Plumereau, a square with only pubs and restaurants full of people who dine and drink ouside at tables filling the center of the square. Boulevard Beranger crosses rue Nationale, and is the location of weekly markets and fairs.

Transportation

Today, with its extensive rail (including TGV) 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, 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 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:

See also

External links