Tours

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Coordinates: 47°23′37″N 0°41′21″E / 47.393611, 0.689167

Commune of Tours
Town hall, Victor Laloux, architect (1896-1904)
Location
Tours (France)
Tours
Administration
Country France
Region Centre
Department Indre-et-Loire
(Préfecture)
Arrondissement Tours
Canton Chief town of 7 cantons
Intercommunality Communauté
d'agglomération
Tours Plus
Mayor Jean Germain
(2001-2008)
Statistics
Elevation 44 m–109 m
Land area¹ 34.36 km²
Population²
(est. 2006)		 142 000
 - Density 4,132/km² (2006)
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code 37261/ 37000, 37100, 37200
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
2 Population sans doubles comptes: single count of residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel).
France

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, the perfection of its local spoken French, and for the famous Battle of Tours in 732. It is also the site of the cycling race Paris-Tours. Tours is the largest city in the Centre region of France, although it is not the regional capital, which resides in its second-largest city of Orléans. In 2006, the city itself had 142,000 inhabitants and the metropolitan area had 297,631.

Tours Cathedral: 15th century Flamboyante Gothic west front with Renaissance pinnacles, 1547.
Tours Cathedral: 15th century Flamboyante Gothic west front with Renaissance pinnacles, 1547.

The U.S. sister cities of Tours are Springfield, Missouri (1984) and Minneapolis (1991).

Contents

[edit] History

In Gallic times the city was important as a crossing point of the Loire. Becoming part of the Roman Empire, during the 1st century after J.-C., the city was named "Caesarodunum" ("hill of Cesar"). The name evolved in 4th century when the original Gallic name, Turones, became first "Civitas Turonorum" then "Tours". It was at this time that the amphitheatre of Turns, one of the five largest in the Empire, was built. Tours became the metropolis of the Roman province of Lyon towards 380-388, dominating the Loire Valley, Maine and Brittany. One of the outstanding figures of the history of the city was Saint Martin, second bishop who divided his coat with a naked beggar in Amiens. This incident and the importance of Martin in the medieval Christian Occident made Tours, and in particular Saint-Jacques de Compostelle, a major centre of pilgrimage during the Middle Ages . In the 6th century Gregoire de Tours, author of the Ten Books of History, made his mark on the town by restoring the cathedral destroyed by a fire in 561. The Saint Martin's monastery benefited from its inception, at the very start of the 6th century, from patronage and support fromf the Franc king, Clovis the first, which increased considerably the influence of the saint, the abbey and the city in Gaule. In the 9th century, Tours was at the heart of the Carolingian Rebirth, in particular because of abbatial of Alcuin with Saint Martin. In 845, Tours pushed back a first attack of the Viking chief Hasting. In 850, the Vikings settled at the mouths of the Seine and the Loire. Always led by Hasting, they went up the Loire again in 852 and sacked Angers, Tours and the abbey of Marmoutier. During the Middle Ages, Tours consisted of two juxtaposed and competing centres. The "City" in the east, heiress of the castrum tardo-antique, was composed of the archepiscopal unit (cathedral and residence of the archbishops) and of the castle of Tours, sites of the authority comtale (tourangelle then angevine) and royal. In the west, the "new city" structured around the Saint Martin's abbey was emancipated from the City during 10 th century (an enclosure is built towards 918) and became "Châteauneuf". This space, organized between Saint Martin and the Loire, became the economic center of Tours. Between these two centres remained Varenne, vineyards and fields, little occupied except for the abbaye Saint-Julien established on the banks of the Loire. The two centres were linked during the 14 th century. Tours is a model of the medieval double city.

Tours became the capital of the county of Tours or Touraine, territory bitterly disputed between Blaisois and Anjou, winner in 9 th century. Capital of France at the time of Louis XI who had settled in the castle of Montils (current castle of Plessis in La Riche, western suburbs of Tours), Tours and Touraine remained until 16 th century a continual stay of the kings and Court. The Rebirth offered to Tours and Touraine many private mansions and castles, joined together to some extent under the generic name of "Loire château". It is also at the time of Louis XI that the industry of the silk, which survives today with difficulty, was introduced there.

Charles IX passed in the city at the time of his royal turn of France(1564-1566), accompanied by the Court and the people in power in the kingdom: his brother the duc of Anjou, Henri de Navarre, the cardinals of Bourbon and Lorraine. At this time, the Catholics took again the things in hand in Angers: the intendant assumed the right to name the aldermen. The massacre of Saint-Barthelemy is not repeated there (at the end of August 1572): the Protestants are imprisoned there by the aldermen, which avoided the extermination. The permanent return of the Court towards Paris then Versailles marked the beginning of a slow but permanent decline. Guillaume the Metayer, called Rochambeau (1763-1798), well known chouan, chief of Mayenne, was shot there on Thermidor 8, year VI. It is the arrival of the railroad at the 19 th century which saved the city by making it an important crossroads (station of Tours-Saint-Pierre-des-Corps). At that time, Tours grew towards the south (district of the Emoluments). This position consequently marked the revival of the city which became during all the 20 th century an dynamic and economically turned towards the tertiary sector agglomeration.

The 1st World war (1914-1918) deeply marked the city. With the American 25.000 soldiers, arrived since 1917, the industry of clothing, the military repair shops of machines and other guns, the ammunition, the Post office and the American military hospital in Augustins, Tours became a garrison town with its general staff. The stone Bridge on the Loire was baptized in July 1918 in the name of Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America in 1912 and which remained it until 1920. Three American Squadron, whose 492 nd, were present on the airfield of Parçay-Meslay and their manpower also took part in the Tourangelle life, the demonstrations like the ceremonies (burials, handing-over Military Cross), the popular festivals and YMCA spectacles. Some soldiers married the pretty Tourangelles ones. It is the case in particular of Joseph Harrison Nezat, Sergent-Chef, born in Port Barre, Louisiana and descendant of Pierre Nezat, born in Layrac (Lot and the Garonne) who emigrated in 1755 in the United States of America. One of his grandchildren, Jack Claude Nezat is the author of books devoted to the history and sociology.

In 1920, the city accommodated the congress of Tours which saw the constitution of the French Communist Party. Tours was also marked by the 2nd World war, 1919-1945. In 1940, it was destroyed and knew then four years of hutments and casemates. Between June 10 and 13, 1940 it welcomed the French government before its installation in Bordeaux. A part of the center of the city was completely destroyed at the time of the gigantic fire from the 20 to June 22, fire caused by German incendiary bombs. Architectural masterpieces ones of 16 th and 17 th centuries were partly lost, just as the monumental entry of the city. The Wilson Bridge ("stone bridge"), which supplied the city out of water, had been dynamited to slow down the progress of Wehrmacht. Not being able to extinguish the blazing inferno, the inhabitants could only flee. Other bombardments strucked hard the district of the station in 1944, making several hundreds of deaths. A plan of rebuilding and installation of the downtown area, drawn by the Tourangeau architect Camille Lefèvre, was adopted before even the end of the war. The plan of twenty quadrangular small islands was ordered around the Rue Nationale which was widened. This regular ordinance endeavors to take again the topics of the architecture of the 18 th century in simplifying them. Pierre Patout succeeded to him as an architect in chief of the rebuilding in 1945. One spoke a time to destroy the southern part of the Rue Nationale to put it in conformity with the new one.

The recent history of Tours is marked by the personality of Jean Royer, his mayor lasting thirty-six years who contributed to save the Old-Tours of the total demolition and did one of the first "safeguarded sectors of it", example of restoration which inspired the Malraux Law of safeguarding of the old centers. Jean Royer also extended the city towards the south in the years 1970 by rectifying the course of the river Cher to build the districts of Banks of Cher and Fontaines, then one of the largest urban building sites of Europe. In 1970 was founded the François-Rabelais university, whose centre of gravity is installed in edge of the Loire in full downtown area, and not as it was then the tendency in a campus in suburbs (solution chosen in particular by the twin university of Orleans). Its long mandate knew sometimes discussed achievements however, such as the passage instead of an old channel, to 1 500 meters of the cathedral, A10 motorway (practical but not very aesthetic), or the construction of the original Vinci Congress Center by Jean Nouvel who durably involved in debt the city while making Tours one of the principal "congress" cities of France. Jean Germain made reduction of the debt at the time of his accession to the town hall in 1995 a priority. Ten years after, his economic management is regarded as much wiser than that of his predecessor, the financial standing of the city having returned on a stable level. The action of Jean Germain remains however criticized by the municipal opposition for its lack of ambition: no large building site comparable with those of Jean Royer was truly launched under his dual mandate. This position is disputed by the municipal team which affirms to concentrate more on the quality of life (urban restoration, development of public transport and cultural action).

[edit] Main sights

[edit] Tours Cathedral

Main article: Tours Cathedral

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 illuminating 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.

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[edit] Language

The inhabitants of Tours (Tourangeau) are renowned for speaking the "purest" form of French in the entire country. The pronunciation of Touraine is widely regarded as the most standard pronunciation of the French language, devoid of any perceived accent (unlike that of most other regions of France, including Paris). Gregory of Tours wrote in the 6th century that some people in his area could still speak Gaulish.

[edit] City

The city of Tours has a population of 140,000. Tours is called "Le Jardin de la France" ("The Garden of France"). There are several parks located within the city. 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 (called Ardoise) roofs; this style is common in the north of France (in the south of France, most buildings have terra cotta roofs).

Tours is famous for the old part of the city, called Le Vieux Tours, with medieval half-timbered houses, and Place Plumereau, a square with busy pubs and restaurants, whose open-air tables fill the center of the square. Boulevard Beranger crosses Rue Nationale at Place Jean-Jaures, and is the location of weekly markets and fairs.

Near the cathedral, in the garden of the ancient Palais des Archevêques (now Musée des Beaux-Arts), is a huge cedar tree, planted by Napoleon.

Tours is home to a large university, François Rabelais University François Rabelais is the site of one of the most important choral competition, Florilège Vocal de Tours International Choir Competition, is and member cities of the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing.

[edit] Transport

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 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 and one hour and a half to CDG airport. 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 connection to Figari on Corsica is available during the summer, 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 Hôtel de Ville, and rue Nationale, the high street of Tours. A tram is planned to be built in the next few years.

[edit] Catholics from Tours

Tours is a special place for Catholics who follow the devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus and the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. It was in Tours in 1843 that a Carmelite nun, Sister Marie of St Peter reported a vision which started the devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus, in reparation for the many insults Christ suffered in His Passion.

The Venerable Leo Dupont also known as The Holy Man of Tours lived in Tours at about the same time. In 1849 he started the nightly adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in Tours, from where it spread within France. Upon hearing of Sister Marie of St Peter’s reported visions, he started to burn a vigil lamp continuously before a picture of the Holy Face of Jesus and helped spread the devotion within France. The devotion was eventually approved by Pope Pius XII in 1958 and he formally declared the Feast of the Holy Face of Jesus as Shrove Tuesday (the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday) for all Roman Catholics.

[edit] Births

Tours was the birthplace of:


Jardin public central (central park).
Giant Cedar tree.
Place Plumereau, Medieval buildings.
Slate roofs of Tours.

Place Jean Jaurès.

Pont Wilson.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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