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Poitiers
Poetàe (Poitevin–Saintongeais) | |
|---|---|
Prefecture and commune | |
 Historic centre of Poitiers with Church of Saint-Radegund, Cathedral of Saint-Pierre and the Palace of Poitiers in the background | |
.svg) Coat of arms | |
Location of Poitiers  | |
  Poitiers  Poitiers | |
| Coordinates: 46°35′N 0°20′E / 46.58°N 0.34°E | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Nouvelle-Aquitaine |
| Department | Vienne |
| Arrondissement | Poitiers |
| Canton | Poitiers-1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 |
| Intercommunality | CU Grand Poitiers |
| Government | |
| • Mayor (2020–2026) | Léonore Moncond'huy[1] (The Greens) |
Area 1 | 42.11 km2 (16.26 sq mi) |
| Population (2022)[2] | 89,472 |
| • Density | 2,100/km2 (5,500/sq mi) |
| Demonym | Poitevin·e |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| INSEE/Postal code | 86194 /86000 |
| Elevation | 65–144 m (213–472 ft) (avg. 75 m or 246 ft) |
| Website | poitiers.fr (in French) |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
Poitiers[a] is a city on the river Clain in west-central France. It is a commune, the capital of the Vienne department and the historical center of Poitou Province. In 2021, it had a population of 90,240. Its conurbation had 134,397 inhabitants in 2021 and is the municipal center of an urban area of 281,789 inhabitants. It is a city of art and history, still known popularly as "Ville aux cent clochers" (literal translation: "City of hundred bell towers").
With more than 30,000 students, Poitiers has been a major university town since the creation of its university in 1431, having hosted world-renowned figures and thinkers such as René Descartes, Joachim du Bellay and François Rabelais, among others. The plaza of the town is picturesque; its streets including predominantly preserved historical architecture and half-timbered houses,[8] especially religious edifices, commonly from the Romanesque period. The latter includes notably the 4th century baptistery of Saint-Jean (Baptistère Saint-Jean), the 7th century Merovingian underground chapel of the Hypogeum of the Dunes (L'Hypogée des Dunes), the Church of Notre-Dame-la-Grande (12th century), the Church of Saint-Porchaire (12th century) or Poitiers Cathedral (end of the 12th century) as well as the Palace of Poitiers, until recently a courthouse (12th century), the former palace of the Counts of Poitou, Dukes of Aquitaine, where the Dowager Queen of France and England Eleanor of Aquitaine held her infamous "Court of Love."
The city's pedigree is associated with two major battles that took place in the area. The first, in 732, also known as the Battle of Tours (to avoid inevitable confusion with the second), saw the defending Frankish warhost commanded by Charles Martel defeat the belligerent expeditionary army of the Umayyad Caliphate led by Muslim general Abd al-Rahman al-Ghafiqi. The second battle, in 1356, a lionized military capstone was the Battle of Poitiers which was one of the focal battles of the Hundred Years' War. It saw the defeat of a larger French royal army by the English and the capture of King John II of France by the triumphant Prince of Wales Edward.
The Poitiers agglomeration, located halfway between Paris and Bordeaux, is home to the Futuroscope Technopole, which includes major public (CNED, Canopé, etc.) and private companies of national scope, as well as leading European research laboratories. With two million visitors annually, Futuroscope is the leading tourist site in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, and the third most popular amusement park in France after Disneyland Paris and the Puy du Fou.
- ^ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires" (in French). data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 8 October 2023.
- ^ "Populations de référence 2022" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 19 December 2024.
- ^ Wells, John C. (2008). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.). Longman. ISBN 978-1-4058-8118-0.
- ^ Jones, Daniel (2011). Roach, Peter; Setter, Jane; Esling, John (eds.). Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary (18th ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-15255-6.
- ^ "Poitiers". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th ed.). HarperCollins. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
- ^ "Poitiers" (US) and "Poitiers". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 6 August 2020.
- ^ "Poitiers". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 897–899.
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