Luca Aless, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Poitiers
Poitiers spreads across a plateau above the confluence of the Clain and the Boivre, a strategic position that made it a major city from Antiquity and the scene in 732 of the famous battle that halted the Arab-Muslim advance into western Europe.
The city has one of the richest collections of Romanesque art in France: Notre-Dame-la-Grande with its carved polychrome façade, the many-domed Church of Saint-Hilaire-le-Grand and the Baptistery of Saint-Jean, one of the oldest surviving Christian buildings in France. The former capital of Poitou and a university town since 1431, Poitiers has kept a dense historic centre of Renaissance mansions and medieval lanes, while the palace of the dukes of Aquitaine and counts of Poitou now houses the law courts. On the edge of the city, Futuroscope extends this identity with tourism focused on innovation and the moving image.
