The White and Blue city keeps a historical centre registered in theUNESCO, and is home to the Vieux-Tours, apatrimonial site. The garden city has a green heritage and its urban landscape has been strongly influenced by its natural space. The historic city is nicknamed "Le Petit Paris". The city is auniversity city with more than 30,000 students in 2019. Tours is a popular culinary city with specialties such as:rillettes, rillons,Touraine vineyards, AOCSainte-Maure-de-Touraine cheeses andnougats. The city is also the end-point of the annualParis–Tourscycle race. The region, due to its history and culture, has always been a land of birth or host to many personalities and international sporting events.
A popular folk etymology of the word "Tours" is that it comes fromTuronus, the nephew ofBrutus. Turonus died in a war betweenCorineus and the king ofAquitaine,Goffarius Pictus, provoked by Corineus hunting in the king's forests without permission. It is said that Turonus was buried in Tours and the city is founded around his grave.[4]
InGallic times, Tours was an important crossing point over theLoire. It became part of theRoman Empire during the 1st century AD, and the city was namedCaesarodunum ("hill of Caesar"). The name evolved in the 4th century when the originalGallic name,Turones, becameCivitas Turonum and thenTours. It was at this time that theTours Amphitheatre was built.
Tours became a metropolis in the Roman province ofLugdunum towards 380–388 AD, dominatingMaine, Brittany, and theLoire Valley. One important figure in the city was SaintMartin of Tours, a bishop who shared his coat with a naked beggar inAmiens. The importance of Martin in the medieval Christian West made Tours, and its position on the route of pilgrimage toSantiago de Compostela, a major centre during the Middle Ages.
In the 6th century,Gregory of Tours, author of theTen Books of History, restored a cathedral destroyed by a fire in 561. Saint Martin's monastery benefited from its inception, at the very start of the 6th century from patronage and support from the Frankish king,Clovis I, which increased considerably the influence of the saint, the abbey and the city in Gaul. In the 9th century, Tours was at the heart of theCarolingian Renaissance, in particular because ofAlcuin, of York in Northumbria, a renowned book collector and an abbot ofMarmoutier Abbey.
In 845, Tours repelled the first attack of theViking chiefHaesten. In 850, the Vikings settled at the mouths of theSeine and the Loire. Still led by Haesten, they went up the Loire again in 852 and sackedAngers, Tours and Marmoutier Abbey.
During the Middle Ages, Tours consisted of two juxtaposed and competing centres. The "City" in the east, successor of the late Roman 'castrum', was composed of the cathedral and palace of the archbishops as well as the castle of Tours. The castle of Tours acted as a seat of the authority of the Counts of Tours (later Counts of Anjou) and the King of France. In the west, the "new city" structured around the Abbey of Saint Martin was freed from the control of the city during the 10th century (an enclosure was built towards 918) and became "Châteauneuf". This space, organized between Saint Martin and the Loire, became the economic centre of Tours. Between these two centres were Varennes, 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 14th century.
Place Plumereau, Medieval buildings
Tours became the capital of the county of Tours orTouraine, a territory bitterly disputed betweenthe counts of Blois andAnjou – the latter were victorious in the 11th century. It was the capital of France at the time of Louis XI, who had settled in the castle of Montils (today the castle of Plessis-les-Tours, at the junction of the Loire and the Indre rivers). Tours and Touraine remained a permanent residence of the kings and court until the 16th century. The Renaissance gave Tours and Touraine many private mansions and castles, joined to some extent under the generic name of the Châteaux of the Loire. It is also at the time of Louis XI that the silk industry was introduced – despite difficulties, the industry still survives to this day.
Charles IX passed through the city at the time of his royal tour of France between 1564 and 1566, accompanied by the Court and various noblemen: his brother theDuke of Anjou,Henri de Navarre, the cardinals of Bourbon andLorraine. At this time, the Catholics returned to power in Angers: the attendant assumed the right to nominate the aldermen. TheMassacre of Saint-Barthelemy was not repeated at Tours. The Protestants were imprisoned by the aldermen – a measure which prevented their extermination. The permanent return of the Court to Paris and then Versailles marked the beginning of a slow but permanent decline. Guillaume the Metayer (1763–1798), known asRochambeau, the well-known counter-revolutionary chief of Mayenne, was shot in Tours.
The arrival of the railway in the 19th century saved the city by making it an important nodal point. The main railway station is known as Tours-Saint-Pierre-des-Corps. At that time, Tours was expanding towards the south into a district known as the Prébendes. The importance of the city as a centre of communications contributed to its revival and, as the 20th century progressed, Tours became a dynamic conurbation, economically oriented towards the service sector. The city was briefly thede facto capital of France during theFranco-Prussian War playing host toLéon Gambetta and representatives of theGovernment of National Defence who escaped the then ongoingSiege of Paris.[6]
Tours Cathedral: 15th-centuryFlamboyant Gothic west front with Renaissance pinnacles, completed 1547
The city was greatly affected by theFirst World War. A force of 25,000 American soldiers arrived in 1917, setting up textile factories for the manufacture of uniforms, repair shops for military equipment, munitions dumps, an army post office and an American military hospital at Augustins. Because of this, Tours became a garrison town with a resident general staff. The American presence is remembered today by theWilson Bridge over the Loire, which was officially opened in July 1918 and bears the name of the President of theUnited States from 1913 to 1921. Three American air force squadrons, including the 492nd, were based at theParçay-Meslay airfield, their personnel playing an active part in the life of the city. Americans paraded at funerals and award ceremonies for the Croix de Guerre. They also took part in festivals and theirYMCA organised shows for the troops. Some men married women from Tours.
In 1920, the city hosted the Congress of Tours, which saw the creation of theFrench Communist Party. One future consequence of that congress was the presence ofHo Chi Minh, theVietnamese nationalist, who became one of the first members of the party.
Tours was also marked by theSecond World War, as the city suffered massive destruction in 1940. For four years it was a city of military camps and fortifications. From 10 to 13 June 1940, Tours was the temporary seat of the French government before its move toBordeaux.
Germanincendiary bombs caused a huge fire, which blazed out of control from 20 to 22 June and destroyed part of the city centre. Some architectural masterpieces of the 16th and 17th centuries were lost, as was the monumental entry to the city. The Wilson Bridge, which carried a water main that supplied the city, was dynamited to slow the progress of the German advance. With the water main severed, nobody could extinguish the inferno. That made inhabitants have no option but to flee to safety. More heavy air raids by Allied forces devastated the area around the railway station in 1944, causing several hundred deaths.
A plan for the rebuilding of the central area drawn up by the local architectCamille Lefèvre had been adopted even before the end of the war. The plan was for 20 small quadrangular blocks of housing to be arranged around the main road (larue Nationale), which was widened. This regular layout attempted to echo but simplify the 18th-century architecture.Pierre Patout succeeded Lefèvre as the architect in charge of rebuilding in 1945. At one time, there was talk of demolishing the southern side of therue Nationale to make it in keeping with the new development.
The recent history of Tours is marked by the personality ofJean Royer, who was mayor for 36 years and helped save the old town from demolition by establishing one of the firstConservation Areas. This example of conservation policy would later inspire the Malraux Law for the safeguarding of historic city centres. In the 1970s, Jean Royer also extended the city to the south by diverting the course of theCher River to create the districts of Rives du Cher and des Fontaines. At the time, it was one of the largest urban developments in Europe. In 1970, theFrançois Rabelais University was founded and centred on the bank of the Loire in the downtown area, not, as was the current practice, in a campus in the suburbs. The latter solution was also chosen by the twin university of Orleans. Royer's long term as mayor was, however, not without controversy, as is exemplified by the construction of the practical but aesthetically unattractive motorway, which runs along the bed of a former canal just 1,500 metres (4,900 feet) from the cathedral. Another bone of contention was the original Vinci Congress Centre byJean Nouvel. The project incurred debts although it at least made Tours one of France's principal conference centres.
Jean Germain, a member of the Socialist Party, became mayor in 1995 and made debt reduction his priority. Ten years later, his economic management was regarded as much wiser than that of his predecessor because of the financial stability of the city returning. However, his achievements were criticised by the municipal opposition for a lack of ambition. There were no large building projects instituted under his two terms. That position is disputed by those in power, who affirm their policy of concentrating on the quality of life, as evidenced by urban restoration, the development of public transport and cultural activities.
Tours has anoceanic climate that is very mild for such a northern latitude. Summers are influenced by its inland position, resulting in frequent days of 25 °C (77 °F) or warmer, whereas winters are kept mild by Atlantic air masses. The entire valley between Orlans and Angers is famous for the luminosity of its air and for its fabulous châteaux, most of them Renaissance (over 600 between Orlans and Angers).
The Cathedral of Tours, dedicated toSaint Gatien, itscanonized firstbishop, was begun about 1170 to replace the cathedral that was burnt out in 1166 during the dispute betweenLouis VII of France andHenry II of England. The lowermost stages of the western towers belong to the 12th century, but the rest of the west end is in the profusely detailed 15th-centuryFlamboyant Gothic, which were completed just as theRenaissance was affecting the patrons who planned thechâteaux of Touraine. The towers were being constructed at the same time as, for example, theChâteau de Chenonceau.
When the 15th-century illuminatorJean Fouquet was set the task of illuminatingJosephus'sJewish Antiquities, his depiction ofSolomon's Temple was modelled on the nearly complete cathedral of Tours. The atmosphere of the Gothic cathedral close permeatesHonoré de Balzac's dark short novel of jealousy and provincial intrigues,Le Curé de Tours (The Curate of Tours) and his medieval storyMaître Cornélius opens in the cathedral itself.
Before theFrench Revolution, the inhabitants of Tours (Les Tourangeaux) were known for speaking the "purest" form of French in the entire country.[10] The pronunciation of Touraine was traditionally regarded as the most standard pronunciation of the French language, until the 19th century when the standard pronunciation of French shifted to that of the Parisian bourgeoisie.[11] That is explained by the fact that the court of France lived inTouraine between 1430 and 1530. French, the language of the court, had become the official language of the entire kingdom.
ACouncil of Tours in 813 decided that priests should preach sermons in different languages because the common people could no longer understandclassical Latin. This was the first official recognition of an early French language distinct from Latin, and can be considered as the birth of French.
The Ordinance ofMontils-lès-Tours, promulgated byCharles VII in 1454, made it mandatory to write laws and oral customs in the native language of the area.
An ordinance ofCharles VIII (born inAmboise, near Tours) in 1490 and one ofLouis XII (born inBlois, near Tours) in 1510 broaden the scope of the ordinance of Charles VII.
Finally, theOrdinance of Villers-Cotterêts, signed into law byFrancis I in 1539, called for the use of French in all legal acts, notarized contracts and official legislation to avoid any linguistic confusion.
Gregory of Tours wrote in the 6th century that some people in the area could still speakGaulish.
Pont Wilson crosses the riverLoire at the old civic core.
The city has a population of 140,000 and 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 to the north and the Cher to the south. The buildings of Tours are white with blueslate (calledArdoise) roofs; this style is common in the north of France, while most buildings in the south of France haveterracotta roofs.
Tours is famous for its original medieval district, calledle Vieux Tours. Unique to the Old City are its preservedhalf-timbered buildings andla Place Plumereau, a square with busy pubs and restaurants, whose open-air tables fill the centre of the square. The Boulevard Beranger crosses theRue Nationale at the Place Jean-Jaures and is the location of weekly markets and fairs.
Tours is famous for its many bridges crossing the river Loire. One of them,Wilson Bridge, collapsed in 1978 but was rebuilt.
Giant Cedar tree
In the garden of the ancient Palais des Archevêques (nowMusée des Beaux-Arts) is a hugecedar tree said to have been planted byNapoleon.[12] The garden also has a stuffed elephant named Fritz. He escaped from theBarnum and Bailey circus during their stay in Tours in 1902. He went mad and had to be shot down, but the city paid to honor him, and he was taxidermied as a result.
Tours is home toUniversity of Tours (formerly known as University François Rabelais of Tours), the site of one of the most important choral competitions, calledFlorilège Vocal de Tours International Choir Competition, and is a member city of theEuropean Grand Prix for Choral Singing.
The population data in the table and graph below refer to the commune of Tours proper, in its geography at the given years. The commune of Tours absorbed the former commune of Saint-Étienne in 1845 and Sainte-Radegonde-en-Touraine and Saint-Symphorien in 1964.[13]
Today, with extensive rail (includingTGV) andautoroute connections linking to the rest of the country, Tours is a jumping-off point for tourist visits to theLoire Valley and the royalchâteaux.
Tours is on one of the main lines of the TGV. It is possible to travel to the west coast ofBordeaux in an hour and forty minutes. From there, the line follows theMediterranean coast viaAvignon, and then to Spain andBarcelona. There are also lines toLyon,Strasbourg andLille. It takes less than one hour by train to get from Tours to Paris by TGV and one and a half hours to get toCharles de Gaulle Airport. Tours has two main stations:Gare de Tours, the central station, andGare de Saint-Pierre-des-Corps, used by trains that do not terminate in Tours.
There is also a bus service, the main central stop beingJean Jaurès, next to theHôtel de Ville, andrue Nationale, thehigh street of Tours. The tram and bus networks are operated by Fil Bleu and they share a ticketing system. A second tram line is scheduled for 2025.[16]
The city's premierfootball club,Tours FC, was dissolved in 2025, after 106 years of activity, due to years of financial struggles.[17] They also have a second team,CCSP Tours. CCSP's home stadium is the Stade des Tourettes and they play in the Division d'Honneur Regionale de Centre, the seventh tier of theFrench football league system.[citation needed]
TheVenerableLeo Dupont also known as TheHoly Man of Tours lived in Tours at about the same time. In 1849 he started the nightly adoration of theBlessed Sacrament, which spread throughout France. Upon hearing of SisterMarie of St Peter's reported visions, he started to burn a vigil lamp continuously before a picture of theHoly Face of Jesus. The devotion was eventually approved byPope Pius XII in 1958 and he formally declared the Feast of theHoly Face of Jesus as Shrove Tuesday (the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday) for all Roman Catholics.[19] TheOratory of the Holy Face on Rue St. Étienne in Tours receives many pilgrims every year.
Tours was the site of the episcopal activity ofSt. Martin of Tours and has further Christian connotations in that the pivotalBattle of Tours in 732 is often considered the first decisive victory over the invading Islamic forces, turning the tide against them. The battle also helped lay the foundations of theCarolingian Empire.[20]
^The Andalusian History, from the Islamic conquest till the fall of Granada 92–897 A.H. (711–1492 C.E.), by ProfessorAbdurRahman Ali El-Hajji, a professor of the Islamic history at Baghdad University, published in Dar Al-Qalam, in Damascus, and in Beirut. "Second Edition". p. 194
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