Tours

Tours is a city of 135 thousand¹ located along the Loire River, where the Cher River runs closely parallel, in the Indre-et-Loire Department of the Centre Region of France. It is within the UNESCO World Heritage Site covering a stretch of the Loire Valley, its agricultural and culture, including châteaux such as the one here. The valley is also a tourist attraction.² Also of note is its cathedral (built 1236 to 1547), named for Saint-Gaitien de Tours.³

Nearby on the other side of the Cher is the suburb of Joué-lès-Tours, with 36 thousand residents.¹ It is also within the World Heritage Site.⁴

François Viète worked for the kings at the court in Tours from 1589 to 1603. He is famous for solving a 45th degree equation (in response to a challenge) and for breaking a Spanish code.

External references

Château at Tours, Indre-et-Loire Department, Centre Region, France

Footnotes

1. Figure for 2010 in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_communes_in_France_with_over_20,000_inhabitants, accessed 2/7/2015.
2. http://www.touropia.com/tourist-attractions-in-france/, accessed 2/9/2015.
3. emporis.com, accessed 4/10/2015.
4. 087_933_delimitation_Val_de_Loire.jpg from http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/933/multiple=1&unique_number=1089, downloaded 2/7/2015.