Loire Valley - Tours

Tours is the name of the town we called home for our 11-day stay in the Loire Valley. It's a good size, at 136,000 inhabitants, and it has some interesting sites!

Here's the Hôtel de Ville (mayor's office, and also the préfecture)

And the train station isn't too bad either!

We didn't get around to everything, but we did see an awful lot!

We toured Old Town, starting with the clock tower, Charlemagne's Tower, and the Church of Saint Martin (at one time, these were all part of one building!) See the placard text for details.

Church of Saint Martin (the back)

Charlemagne's Tower 

Clock Tower 

Church of Saint Martin (the front)

Church of Saint Martin with Charlemagne's Tower 

~~~ text from the placard ~~~

The Collegiate Church of Saint Martin

When Saint Martin, Bishop of Tours, died in 397, a small oratory was built over his grave, to be followed later by a more ambitious edifice referred to in early texts as the Basilica Sancti Martini. This first Saint Martin's Basilica became a collegiate church in 818, with a chapter of two hundred canons regular.

The edifice was entirely rebuilt in the early years of the 11th century and, in the second quarter of the 13th century, its eastern section was demolished in order to make way for a magnificent new chancel, twice the size of and considerably higher than its predecessor, with a double ambulatory (walkway) serving five radiating chapels. There can be no doubt about its stylistic filiation with the eastern end of Bourges Cathedral, which had been completed a few years earlier. Intercession by succeeding monarchs and prominent Tours families led to further modifications being made, including the addition of chapels on the north and south sides, heightening of the transept towers, and construction of a rood screen. At the end of the 18th century, lack of upkeep had caused the edifice to fall into such a state of disrepair that the authorities decided to pull it down to clear the way for further city development, so leading to the building of Rue des Halles and Rue Descartes.

Today, the Clock Tower (to the east) and Charlemagne Tower still stand to give us some idea of just how big Saint Martin's collegiate church was, one of the largest religious edifices in all Christendom. The light-coloured paving stones along Rue des Halles mark the location of the columns that once lined the nave and chancel.

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More of Old Town, where we stopped for lunch 🙂😋😋😋

Crooked!!

We drove over to the cathedral next...

And now? Home!!!

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See all the photos in the Loire Valley 2023 album.