Château de Tours / Tours Castle (Tours, France)
N 47° 23.827 E 000° 41.625
31T E 325973 N 5251874
Medieval Tours Castle (Château de Tours), former Royal and Governors Castle defending the city, is one of the main historic monuments of Tours - nowadays capital of the Indre-et-Loire department in France.
Waymark Code: WM9DP6
Location: Centre-Val-de-Loire, France
Date Posted: 08/07/2010
Views: 36
Medieval Tours Castle (Château de Tours), former Royal and Governors Castle defending the city, is one of the main historic monuments of Tours - nowadays capital of the Indre-et-Loire department in France.
Chateau de Tours, located at the bank of Loire river was built by the Counts of Blois which then became the Viscounts Counts of Tours from the Xth century. It was rebuilt by Counts of Anjou from the middle of the XInth century after they take control of the expense of Touraine Counts of Blois. The castle is reinforced Henry II Plantagenet 1160. It was damaged during the battles between the King of France Philippe Auguste and Plantagenets at the end of the 12th century.
From the former vast fortress with four big towers and donjon in the middle you can see today only two medieval stone towers. A present castle palace located between these medieval towers, built in the 15th and 16th century on the basis of the Gallo-Roman structure, is called the House of Governors. Castle is classified as French Historical Monument since August 1913. Today the castle houses contemporary art exhibitions (Miró, Daniel Buren,...) and the History Workshop Touraine where you can find archeological and historical documents, models and audio-visual presentations about the history of the city of Tours.