TOURS, a city of France, capital of the dep. of Indre-et-Loire, and formerly capital of Touraine, stands in the midst. of a fertile but fiat valley, 146 m. s.w. of Paris. Along its n. side runs the Loire, and along its s. side the Cher—these two rivers uniting about 25 in. S.W. of the city, between which and their point of confluence only a very narrow strip of land separates them. • The bridge over the Loire, which continues the great highway from Paris s. to Bordeaux, is upward of 1400 ft. long. The cathedral is a stately Gothic edifice, Surrounding the choir—begun in 1170—there is beautiful old painted glass. The Tour de St. Martin or d'Horloge, and the Tour de Charlemagne, are noteworthy as being the only remains of the cathedral founded by St. Martin in the 4th century. The church was pillaged by the Huguenots, and utterly destroyed, with the exception of the two towers mentioned, at the revolution. Tours has a town hall and a museum. A little to the w. of Tours are the remains of Plessis les Tours, in which
Louis XI. died in 1483. Manufactures of silk stuffs, carpets, painted glass, and pottery are carried on. Pop., 76, 48,325.
Tours, the ancient Ccesa•odanum, dates from the time of the Gauls, and was visited by Cesar and by Adrian. Here Clovis, having come to thank St. Martin for the victory. of VouiIle, received the crown of gold and the purple robe presented to him by the emperor Anastasius. Henry IV. planted the first mulberry-trees known in France here, and here the first silk-factories were established. Under Richelieu, 40,000 hands were employed at Tours, in this branch of manufacture; but the 'industry of the town was ruined by the revocation of the edict of Nantes. In the Franco-German war of 1870-71, Tours was for a time the seat of the French provisional government, and was occupied by the German troops.