Tours
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Tours (Template:IPA-fr) is a city in the centre-west of France. It is the administrative centre of the Indre-et-Loire department and the largest city in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France (although it is not the capital, which is the region's second-largest city, Orléans). In 2012, the city of Tours had 134,978 inhabitants, and the population of the whole metropolitan area was 483,744.
Tours stands on the lower reaches of the Loire river, between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. The surrounding district, the traditional province of Touraine, is known for its wines, for the alleged perfection (as perceived by some speakers and for historical reasons) of its local spoken French, and for the Battle of Tours (732). The city is also the end-point of the annual Paris–Tours cycle race.
Personalities
Tours was the birthplace of:
11th century:
- Berengarius of Tours (999–1088), theologian
12th century:
- Bernard of Tours (fl. 1147, d. before 1178), philosopher and poet
15th century:
- Jean Fouquet (1420–1481), painter
17th century:
- Abraham Bosse (1604–1676), artist
- Louise de la Vallière (1644–1710), courtesan
- Philippe Néricault Destouches (1680–1754), dramatist
18th century:
- Nicolas Heurteloup (1750-1812), surgeon
- Gabriel Lamé (1795–1870), mathematician
- Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850), novelist
19th century:
- André-Michel Guerry (1802-1866), lawyer and statistician
- Théophile Archambault (1806-1863), psychiatrist
- Ernest Goüin (1815–1885), French engineer
- Marie of St Peter (1816–1848), mystic carmelite nun
- Philippe de Trobriand (1816–1897), author, American military officer
- Emile Delahaye (1843–1905), automobile pioneer
- Georges Courteline (1858–1929), dramatist and novelist
- Daniel Mendaille (1885–1963), stage and film actor
20th century:
- Paul Nizan (1905-1940), novelist
- Yves Bonnefoy (1923), poet
- Jean Chalopin (1950), television and movie producer, director and writer
- Laurent Petitguillaume (1960), radio and television host
- Nâdiya (1973), singer
- Harry Roselmack (1973) television presenter
- Ludovic Roy (1977) footballer
- Zaz (1980), singer
- Luc Ducalcon (1984), rugby union player
- Josselin Ouanna (1986), tennis player
See also
