Tours chateau de la Loire walk in city Site Home - What's New? -Feedback - About Jack-  Travel/Art Links

Loire Valley

Tours-A walk and the cathédrale Saint Gatien

restaurant recommendations

hotel recommendations

Tours contents

Introduction ad how to get there

History, part 1

History, part 2

Above all, buy the carte Multi-visites (50 FF) who gives you the opportunity to enter once, most museums  of Tours (musee des Beaux-Arts, l'Historial de Touraine, le musee Archeologique, le musee du Compagnonnage, le musee des vins de Touraine, le chateau de Plessis-les-Tours) and the chateau d'Azay -le-Ferron outside the departement Indre-et-Loire, to the south.
Start place Jean-Jaures, take the rue Nationale, then rue de la Prefecture. Make a left in the rue Buffon and continue until the end. Just in front of the theatre (end 19th century), turn right in the rue de la Scellerie. After having walked along the square de la place Francois-Sicard, turn left to the cathedral.
THE CATHEDRALE SAINT-GATIEN has a long and complicated building story. I'll try to make it as short as possible;-). “In the clear skies Saint-Gatien shows clearly her brown contours and gothic peaks decorated with spheres and bulbs like the Kremlin, which gives the city a very Muscovite aspect”.
No dear readers, this is not Jack in a poetic mood but extract of Theophile Gauthier’s novel “Voyage en Espagne”.
To build the actual edifice, named after the first bishop of Tours, the start was given in the 12th century, on a spot where 4 churches had been built previously and more than 4 centuries were needed (from 1170 to 1547!) to build this one. So don't be surprised about the numerous styles assembled in one cathedral. First a part of the Gallo-Roman walls were destroyed, then the cathedral was enlarged in different periods— the apse (roman) is the most ancient, the choir is from the 13th century, the transept of the 14th, the elegant nave (gothic), rose-window (flamboyant) and middle towers from the 15th and 16th century, which demonstrates magnificently the evolution of gothic architecture. What a fabulous patchwork!
The towers are flamboyant gothic with high up pre Renaissance cupolas! Especially the western portal that is used by the pilgrims on their way to Saint-Jacques de Compostela is a feast for the eye! It is a stone-lacework masterpiece with its three doors surmounted by delicately pierced gables, the finesse of the rose window and the supporting little columns, the harmonious alternation of curves and straight lines. The best way to view it is to visit (with a guide) THE CLOISTER OF LA PSALETTE that assembles the vestiges of a tower of the Gallo-roman wall and a building of the 15th century (east side). Up there you have a pretty good idea of the restoration works still in full action, and where you see clearly the difference between Roman, Gothic and Renaissance. Just notice the gothic flamboyant cloister corridor connecting with the Roman fundaments of the tower. A cute spiral staircase leads you to the first floor where the former library used to house. On the floor of this room's original pavements you can see footprints of dog and bird paws….or maybe the DEVIL? The two other wings date from the 16th century. At their intersection a pretty tower stair from the same epoch, but with 18th century roofing.
Inside the church, you can admire a splendid glass-case composed by 15 glass-stained windows from the 13th, 14, and 15th century. It’s a miracle that they survived the French revolution and WWII.  You can visit the towers: from the top of the south tower you have a magnificent view on the city and the Loire.

Bibliography

Regions Gourmandes: Les pays de la Loire, by H.Walden (Paris, ed.Hatier 1993)—Guide du Patrimoine, Centre, Val de Loire , by Perouse de Montclos (ed.Hachette 1992)—Het dal van de Loire, by A.Sperber (Brussels, ed.Harenberg 1992)—Tours et ses eglises, visites pour guides, ed.Office Tourisme Tours 1995,---Par les champs et par les greves, by G.Flaubert (1885)—Guide du Routard 1998 (ed.Hachette)—de kastelen van Frankrijk, by L.P.Boon (1956)

Loire main page

WalkTours-CathedraleSaint-Gatien

Walk Tours-Chateau- Musee Beaux Arts and others

Walk Tours-Place Plumereau - Musee du  Gemmail