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96-540: The design of the Berkeley City Hall was derived from the Town Hall at Tours , France, designed by Victor Laloux . The building design by architects John Bakewell Jr. , and Arthur Brown Jr. for the old city hall was selected as the winner of a 1907 competition to replace the original Town Hall which had burned to the ground in 1904 (designed by Samuel and Joseph Cather Newsom , 1884). The old city hall building has

192-416: A building. Box stairs are stairs built between walls, usually with no support except the wall strings. Stairs may be in a "straight run", leading from one floor to another without a turn or change in direction. Stairs may change direction, commonly by two straight flights connected at a 90° angle landing. Stairs may also return onto themselves with 180° angle landings at each end of straight flights forming

288-553: A central open space or park. In 1977, the city offices were moved to 2180 Milvia Street, which resulted in the name "old city hall". The fate of the old city hall building has been in limbo since 2002, when Berkeley voters rejected a bond to repair it. In 2007, the name of the building was changed to the Maudelle Shirek Building, after the former former Vice Mayor and eight-term City Council member Maudelle Shirek . Berkeley City Hall, also referred to as Old City Hall since

384-456: A circular motion around it is a " helix ". Since the very purpose of a stairway is to change elevation, it is inherently a 3-dimensional path. Loose everyday usage conflates the terms helical and spiral , but the vast majority of circular stairs are actually helical. True spiral staircases would be nonfunctional flat structures, although functional hybrid helical spiral staircases can be constructed. This article attempts to preferentially use

480-502: A corner of the square). A "pure helix" fills a circular stairwell, and has multiple steps and handrail elements which are identical and positioned screw-symmetrically . Helical stairs have a handedness or chirality , analogous to the handedness of screw threads , either right-handed or left-handed helical shapes. Ascending a right-handed helix rises counter-clockwise, while ascending a left-handed helix rises clockwise (both as viewed from above). A fundamental advantage of helical stairs

576-729: A garrison town with a resident general staff. The American presence is remembered today by the Woodrow Wilson Bridge over the Loire, which was officially opened in July 1918 and bears the name of the President of the United States from 1913 to 1921. Three American air force squadrons, including the 492nd, were based at the Parçay-Meslay airfield, their personnel playing an active part in the life of

672-485: A grand marble entrance, a cupola, a spire and a curving staircase with wrought-iron banisters. A few years later in 1915, the same two architects designed San Francisco City Hall , which has similar features. The Old City Hall is also the keystone of the Berkeley Civic Center, which was inspired by the concepts of the " City Beautiful movement ", emphasizing broad vistas and important public buildings grouped around

768-523: A half hours to get to Charles de Gaulle Airport . Tours has two main stations: Gare de Tours , the central station, and Gare de Saint-Pierre-des-Corps , used by trains that do not terminate in Tours. Tours Loire Valley Airport connects the Loire Valley to European cities. Historically, Tours was served by trams and trolleybuses , the trolleybus system lasting from 1949 to 1968. Tram service returned to

864-527: A much stronger domestic and status role than a military function" and that "there are sufficient examples of anticlockwise stairs in Britain and France in [the 11th and 12th centuries] to indicate that the choice must have depended both on physical convenience and architectural practicalities and there was no military ideology that demanded clockwise staircases in the cause of fighting efficiency or advantage". Developments in manufacturing and design have also led to

960-408: A safe forward-facing descent of very steep stairs (however, designs with recessed treads or footholds do not have this feature). The treads are designed such that they alternate between treads for each foot: one step is wide on the left side; the next step is wide on the right side. There is insufficient space on the narrow portion of the step for the other foot to stand, hence the person must always use

1056-423: A shape similar to that of the letter "Z" if seen from above. The use of landings and a possible change of direction have the following effects: Other forms include stairs with winders that curve or bend at an acute angle, three flights of stairs that join at a landing to form a T-shape, and stairs with balconies and complex designs. A "mono string" staircase is a term used for a staircase with treads arranged along

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1152-451: A single steel beam. A "double string" staircase has two steel beams, one on either side, and treads spanning between. The term "helical stair" has many synonyms: The helical stair is also called the spiral stair, winding stair, circular stair, elliptical stair, oval stair, geometric stair, vis, vice, vis de Saint Gilles, St. Gilles screw, belfry stair, turret stair, caracole, turnpike, cochlea, cockle, corkscrew, and ascensorium. Helical

1248-544: A square with busy pubs and restaurants, whose open-air tables fill the centre of the square. The Boulevard Beranger crosses the Rue Nationale at the Place Jean-Jaures and is the location of weekly markets and fairs. Tours is famous for its many bridges crossing the river Loire. One of them, Wilson Bridge, collapsed in 1978 but was rebuilt. In the garden of the ancient Palais des Archevêques (now Musée des Beaux-Arts )

1344-465: A stair, in particular the rise height and going of the steps, should remain the same along the stairs. The following stair dimensions are important: Stairs can take a large number of forms, combining straight runs, winders, and landings. The simplest form is the straight flight of stairs, with neither winders nor landings. These types of stairs were commonly used in traditional homes, as they are relatively easy to build and only need to be connected at

1440-557: A territory bitterly disputed between the counts of Blois and Anjou – the latter were victorious in the 11th century. It was the capital of France at the time of Louis XI, who had settled in the castle of Montils (today the castle of Plessis-les-Tours, at the junction of the Loire and the Indre rivers ). Tours and Touraine remained a permanent residence of the kings and court until the 16th century. The Renaissance gave Tours and Touraine many private mansions and castles, joined to some extent under

1536-409: A vertical stairway commonly used in multistory and highrise buildings. Many variations of geometrical stairs may be formed of circular, elliptical and irregular constructions. Ascending a set of stairs to a higher floor is often referred to as going "upstairs", the opposite being "downstairs". The same words can also be used to mean the upper or lower floors of a building, respectively. Each step

1632-731: A volleyball club named the Tours VB . Tours is a special place for Catholics who follow the devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus and the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament . In 1843, Sister Marie of St Peter of Tours reported a vision which started the devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus , in reparation for the many insults Christ suffered in His Passion. The Golden Arrow Prayer was first made public by her. The Venerable Leo Dupont also known as The Holy Man of Tours lived in Tours at about

1728-430: Is a common misconception that helical staircases in castles rose in a clockwise direction, to hinder right-handed attackers. While clockwise helical staircases are more common in castles than anti-clockwise, they were even more common in medieval structures without a military role, such as religious buildings. Studies of helical stairs in castles have concluded that "the role and position of spirals in castles ... had

1824-467: Is a handrail at both sides of the treads. These designs have the advantage of a more uniform tread depth when compared to a narrow helical staircase. Such stairs may also be built around an elliptical or oval footprint, or even a triangular or pentagonal core. Lacking a central pole, an open well staircase is supported at its outer periphery, or in some cases may be a completely self-supporting and free-standing structure. An example of perimeter support

1920-452: Is a huge cedar tree said to have been planted by Napoleon . The garden also has a stuffed elephant named Fritz. He escaped from the Barnum and Bailey circus during their stay in Tours in 1902. He went mad and had to be shot down, but the city paid to honor him, and he was taxidermied as a result. Tours is home to University of Tours (formerly known as University François Rabelais of Tours),

2016-449: Is a popular culinary city with specialties such as: rillettes , rillons, Touraine vineyards , AOC Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine cheeses and nougats . The city is also the end-point of the annual Paris–Tours cycle race . A popular folk etymology of the word "Tours" is that it comes from Turonus , the nephew of Brutus . Turonus died in a war between Corineus and the king of Aquitaine , Goffarius Pictus , provoked by Corineus hunting in

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2112-413: Is a term applied to a complete flight of steps between two floors. A stair flight is a run of stairs or steps between landings. A stairwell is a compartment extending vertically through a building in which stairs are placed. A stair hall is the stairs, landings, hallways, or other portions of the public hall through which it is necessary to pass when going from the entrance floor to the other floors of

2208-413: Is a vertical shaft or opening that contains a staircase. A flight (of stairs) is an inclined part of a staircase consisting of steps (and their lateral supports if supports are separate from steps). This is an excerpt from Staircase . The concept of stairs is believed to be 8000 years old, and are one of the oldest structures in architectural history. The oldest example of spiral stairs dates back to

2304-409: Is composed of a tread and a riser . Some treads may include a nosing . The balustrade is the system of railings and balusters that prevents people from falling over the edge. Handrails may be continuous (sometimes called over-the-post ) or post-to-post (or more accurately newel-to-newel ). For continuous handrails on long balconies, there may be multiple newels and tandem caps to cover

2400-417: Is easier to design and construct than one with landings or winders. The rhythm of stepping is not interrupted in a straight run, which may offset an increased fall risk by helping to prevent a misstep in the first place. However, many long straight runs of stairs will require landings or winders to comply with safety standards in building regulations. Straight stairs can have a mid-landing incorporated, but it

2496-515: Is explained by the fact that the court of France lived in Touraine between 1430 and 1530. French, the language of the court, had become the official language of the entire kingdom. A Council of Tours in 813 decided that priests should preach sermons in different languages because the common people could no longer understand classical Latin . This was the first official recognition of an early French language distinct from Latin, and can be considered as

2592-426: Is painted light brown, while the lantern, spire, and sash are dark brown. Since its completion in 1909, the building has undergone minimal alterations. The main facade's wooden sash windows were replaced with aluminum , preserving the original design. In 1950, the building's rear was extended to create additional office space, enclosing windows on either side of the stair -bay and darkening the main staircase. Inside,

2688-408: Is possibly the least poetic but also the most accurate generic title. The term " spiral " has a more narrow definition in a mathematical context, as a curve which lies in a single plane and moves towards or away from a central point, with a continuously changing radius. The mathematical term for the 3-dimensional curve traced where the locus progresses at a fixed radius from a fixed line while moving in

2784-525: Is probably more common to see stairs that use a landing or winder to produce a bend in the stairs. A straight flight with a mid-landing will require a lot of straight length, and may be more commonly found in large commercial buildings. L-shaped stairways have one landing and usually a change in direction by 90°. U-shaped stairs may employ a single wider landing for a change in direction of 180°, or two landings for two changes in direction of 90° each. A Z-shaped staircase incorporates two opposite 90° turns, creating

2880-563: Is that they can be very compact, fitting into very narrow spaces and occupying a small footprint. For this reason, they can often be found in ships and submarines , industrial installations, small loft apartments , and other locations where floorspace is scarce. However, this compactness can come at the expense of requiring great craftsmanship and care to produce a safe and effective structure. By contrast, grand helical stairs occupying wide sweeps of space can also be built, to showcase luxurious funding and elegant taste. Architects have used

2976-564: Is the Vatican stairwell or the Gothic stairwell. The latter stairwell is tight because of its location where the diameter must be small. Many helices, however, have sufficient width for normal-size treads (8 inches (200 mm)) by being supported by any combination of a center pole, perimeter supports attaching to or beneath the treads, and a helical handrail. In this manner, the treads may be wide enough to accommodate low rises. In self-supporting stairs,

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3072-420: Is topped with a raised, hipped roof adorned with ornamental flames. The highlight of the building is a 60-foot lantern and spire . The lantern rises from the roof, featuring a paneled base with a high metal balustrade around an open colonnade . This colonnade supports a classic entablature crowned by a narrow dome with engaged piers and finials , topped by a beveled spire. The two identical wings of

3168-710: Is twinned with: Stairs Stairs are a structure designed to bridge a large vertical distance between lower and higher levels by dividing it into smaller vertical distances. This is achieved as a diagonal series of horizontal platforms called steps which enable passage to the other level by stepping from one to another step in turn. Steps are very typically rectangular. Stairs may be straight, round, or may consist of two or more straight pieces connected at angles. Types of stairs include staircases (also called stairways) and escalators . Some alternatives to stairs are elevators (also called lifts), stairlifts , inclined moving walkways , ladders , and ramps. A stairwell

3264-473: Is very mild for such a northern latitude. Summers are influenced by its inland position, resulting in frequent days of 25 °C (77 °F) or warmer, whereas winters are kept mild by Atlantic air masses. The entire valley between Orlans and Angers is famous for the luminosity of its air and for its fabulous châteaux, most of them Renaissance (over 600 between Orlans and Angers). The Cathedral of Tours, dedicated to Saint Gatien , its canonized first bishop ,

3360-469: The 400s BC . Medieval architecture saw experimentation with many different shapes, and the Renaissance even more so with varied designs. A stair , or a stairstep , is one step in a flight of stairs. A staircase or stairway is one or more flights of stairs leading from one floor to another, and includes landings, newel posts, handrails, balustrades , and additional parts. In buildings, stairs

3456-692: The Battle of Tours . The Muslim army was defeated, preventing an Islamic conquest of France. In 845, Tours repelled the first attack of the Viking chief Haesten . In 850, the Vikings settled at the mouths of the Seine and the Loire. Still led by Haesten, they went up the Loire again in 852 and sacked Angers , Tours and Marmoutier Abbey. During the Middle Ages, Tours consisted of two juxtaposed and competing centres. The "City" in

3552-533: The UNESCO , and is home to the Vieux-Tours, a patrimonial site. The garden city has a green heritage and an urban landscape strongly influenced by its natural space. The historic city that is nicknamed " Le Petit Paris " and its region by its history and culture has always been a land of birth or host to many personalities, international sporting events, and is a university city with more than 30,000 students in 2019. Tours

3648-716: The cella . The temple was constructed around 480–470 BCE. When used in Roman architecture , helical stairs were generally restricted to elite luxury structures. They were then adopted into Christian ecclesiastic architecture . During the Renaissance and Baroque periods, increasingly spectacular helical stairways were devised, first deleting walled enclosures, and then deleting a central post to leave an open well. Modern designs have trended towards minimalism, culminating in helical stairs made largely of transparent glass, or consisting only of stair treads with minimal visible support. There

3744-578: The mirror image with respect to the vertical center plane corresponds to a shift by one step. Alternating tread stairs are sometimes referred to as "witches stairs", in the supposed belief that they were created during an earlier era as an attempt to repel witches who were thought to be unable to climb such stairs. Such a fanciful origin of the term has since been disproved, with experts finding no mention in any historical literature of stairs that were believed to prevent access by witches. Alternating tread stairs have been in use since at least 1888. Today,

3840-417: The 18th-century architecture. Pierre Patout succeeded Lefèvre as the architect in charge of rebuilding in 1945. At one time, there was talk of demolishing the southern side of the rue Nationale to make it in keeping with the new development. The recent history of Tours is marked by the personality of Jean Royer , who was mayor for 36 years and helped save the old town from demolition by establishing one of

3936-496: The 20th century progressed, Tours became a dynamic conurbation, economically oriented towards the service sector. The city was greatly affected by the First World War . A force of 25,000 American soldiers arrived in 1917, setting up textile factories for the manufacture of uniforms, repair shops for military equipment, munitions dumps, an army post office and an American military hospital at Augustins. Because of this, Tours became

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4032-633: The Catholics returned to power in Angers: the attendant assumed the right to nominate the aldermen. The Massacre of Saint-Barthelemy was not repeated at Tours. The Protestants were imprisoned by the aldermen – a measure which prevented their extermination. The permanent return of the Court to Paris and then Versailles marked the beginning of a slow but permanent decline. Guillaume the Metayer (1763–1798), known as Rochambeau ,

4128-538: The Holy Face on Rue St. Etienne in Tours receives many pilgrims every year. Tours was the site of the episcopal activity of St. Martin of Tours and has further Christian connotations in that the pivotal Battle of Tours in 732 is often considered the first decisive victory over the invading Islamic forces, turning the tide against them. The battle also helped lay the foundations of the Carolingian Empire . Tours

4224-510: The Loire to the north and the Cher to the south. The buildings of Tours are white with blue slate (called Ardoise ) roofs; this style is common in the north of France, while most buildings in the south of France have terracotta roofs. Tours is famous for its original medieval district, called le Vieux Tours . Unique to the Old City are its preserved half-timbered buildings and la Place Plumereau ,

4320-408: The area around the railway station in 1944, causing several hundred deaths. A plan for the rebuilding of the central area drawn up by the local architect Camille Lefèvre had been adopted even before the end of the war. The plan was for 20 small quadrangular blocks of housing to be arranged around the main road (la rue Nationale ), which was widened. This regular layout attempted to echo but simplify

4416-615: The birth of French. The Ordinance of Montils-lès-Tours , promulgated by Charles VII in 1454, made it mandatory to write laws and oral customs in the native language of the area. An ordinance of Charles VIII (born in Amboise , near Tours) in 1490 and one of Louis XII (born in Blois , near Tours) in 1510 broaden the scope of the ordinance of Charles VII. Finally, the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts , signed into law by Francis I in 1539, called for

4512-425: The building (each 31' by 77') are perpendicular to the central portion and share similar architectural details. The ground floors of these wings have round arch openings framed by cartouches with lion masques and supporting brackets. The second-floor balconies span three smaller rectangular windows and are faced with metal balustrades. Each wing has a hipped roof capped with ornamental flames. The building's stucco

4608-567: The cathedral itself. Before the French Revolution , the inhabitants of Tours ( Les Tourangeaux ) were known for speaking the "purest" form of French in the entire country. The pronunciation of Touraine was traditionally regarded as the most standard pronunciation of the French language, until the 19th century when the standard pronunciation of French shifted to that of the Parisian bourgeoisie. That

4704-480: The cathedral. Another bone of contention was the original Vinci Congress Centre by Jean Nouvel . The project incurred debts although it at least made Tours one of France's principal conference centres. Jean Germain , a member of the Socialist Party, became mayor in 1995 and made debt reduction his priority. Ten years later, his economic management was regarded as much wiser than that of his predecessor because of

4800-483: The city centre. Some architectural masterpieces of the 16th and 17th centuries were lost, as was the monumental entry to the city. The Wilson Bridge, which carried a water main that supplied the city, was dynamited to slow the progress of the German advance. With the water main severed, nobody could extinguish the inferno. That made inhabitants have no option but to flee to safety. More heavy air raids by Allied forces devastated

4896-587: The city in 2013, when a new tram system began operation. Twenty-one Alstom Citadis trams were ordered. There is also a bus service, the main central stop being Jean Jaurès , next to the Hôtel de Ville , and rue Nationale , the high street of Tours. The tram and bus networks are operated by Fil Bleu and they share a ticketing system. A second tram line is scheduled for 2025. The city's football team, Tours FC , currently play in Championnat National 3 ,

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4992-646: The city. Americans paraded at funerals and award ceremonies for the Croix de Guerre. They also took part in festivals and their YMCA organised shows for the troops. Some men married women from Tours. In 1920, the city hosted the Congress of Tours, which saw the creation of the French Communist Party . One future consequence of that congress was the presence of Ho Chi Minh , the Vietnamese nationalist, who became one of

5088-460: The correct foot on the correct step. The slope of alternating tread stairs can be as high as 65° as opposed to standard stairs, which are almost always less than 45°. An advantage of alternating tread stairs is that people can descend while facing forward, in the direction of travel. The only other alternative in such short spaces would be a ladder , which requires a backward-facing descent. Alternating tread stairs may not be safe for small children,

5184-449: The design is used in some loft apartments to access bedrooms or storage spaces. Local building codes often dictate the number of emergency exits required for a building of a given size, including specifying a minimum number of stairwells. For any building bigger than a private house, modern codes invariably specify at least two sets of stairs, completely isolated from each other so that if one becomes impassable due to smoke or flames,

5280-406: The design of the structure. In Scottish architecture, helical stairs are commonly known as a turnpike stair . Helical stairs typically have a handrail along the outer periphery only, and on the inner side may have just a central pole. A "squared helical" stair fills a square stairwell and expands the steps and railing to a square, resulting in unequal steps (wider and longer where they extend into

5376-559: The east, successor of the late Roman ' castrum ', was composed of the cathedral and palace of the archbishops as well as the castle of Tours. The castle of Tours acted as a seat of the authority of the Counts of Tours (later Counts of Anjou) and the King of France. In the west, the "new city" structured around the Abbey of Saint Martin was freed from the control of the city during the 10th century (an enclosure

5472-444: The elderly, or the physically challenged. Building codes typically classify them as ladders, and will only allow them where ladders are allowed, usually basement or attic utility or storage areas infrequently accessed. The block model in the image illustrates the space efficiency gained by an alternating tread stair. The alternating stairs (3) requires one unit of space per step: the same as the half-width stairs (2), and half as much as

5568-552: The fifth level of French football . They also have a second team, CCSP Tours . CCSP's home stadium is the Stade des Tourettes and they play in the Division d'Honneur Regionale de Centre , the seventh tier of the French football league system . Tours has served as the finish location for Paris–Tours , a one-day road cycling classic race held almost every October since 1896. Tours also has

5664-454: The financial stability of the city returning. However, his achievements were criticised by the municipal opposition for a lack of ambition. There were no large building projects instituted under his two terms. That position is disputed by those in power, who affirm their policy of concentrating on the quality of life, as evidenced by urban restoration, the development of public transport and cultural activities. Tours has an oceanic climate that

5760-652: The first Conservation Areas . This example of conservation policy would later inspire the Malraux Law for the safeguarding of historic city centres. In the 1970s, Jean Royer also extended the city to the south by diverting the course of the Cher River to create the districts of Rives du Cher and des Fontaines. At the time, it was one of the largest urban developments in Europe. In 1970, the François Rabelais University

5856-484: The first members of the party. Tours was also marked by the Second World War , as the city suffered massive destruction in 1940. For four years it was a city of military camps and fortifications. From 10 to 13 June 1940, Tours was the temporary seat of the French government before its move to Bordeaux . German incendiary bombs caused a huge fire, which blazed out of control from 20 to 22 June and destroyed part of

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5952-505: The floorplan. These traditional arrangements have the advantage of being easily understood by building occupants and occasional visitors. Some architects save floor footprint space while still meeting the exit requirement, by housing two stairwells in a " double helix " or "scissors stairs" configuration whereby two stairwells occupy the same floor footprint, but are intertwined while being separated by fireproof partitions along their entire run. However, this design deposits anybody descending

6048-403: The full-width stairs (1). Thus, the horizontal distance between steps is in this case reduced by a factor of two, reducing the size of each step. The horizontal distance between steps is reduced by a factor less than two if for construction reasons there are narrow "unused" step extensions. These stairs often (including this example) illustrate the mathematical principle of glide plane symmetry:

6144-536: The generic name of the Châteaux of the Loire. It is also at the time of Louis XI that the silk industry was introduced – despite difficulties, the industry still survives to this day. Charles IX passed through the city at the time of his royal tour of France between 1564 and 1566, accompanied by the Court and various noblemen: his brother the Duke of Anjou , Henri de Navarre , the cardinals of Bourbon and Lorraine . At this time,

6240-517: The height. Very tall multi-turn helical staircases are usually found in old stone towers within fortifications , churches , and in lighthouses . Winders may be used in combination with straight stairs to turn the direction of the stairs. This allows for a large number of permutations in designs. The earliest known helical staircases appear in Temple A in the Greek colony Selinunte , Sicily , to both sides of

6336-470: The helix needs to be steep to allow the weight to distribute safely down the structure in the most vertical manner possible. Helical steps with center columns or perimeter support do not have this limitation. Building codes may limit the use of helical stairs to small areas or secondary usage, if their treads are not sufficiently wide or have risers taller than 9.5 inches (240 mm). Double helix staircases are possible, with two independent helical stairs in

6432-698: The influence of the saint, the abbey and the city in Gaul. In the 9th century, Tours was at the heart of the Carolingian Renaissance , in particular because of Alcuin , of York in Northumbria, a renowned book collector and an abbot of Marmoutier Abbey . In 732, Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi and an army of Muslim horsemen from Al-Andalus advanced 500 kilometres (300 miles) deep into France, and were stopped at Moussais-la-Bataille (between Châtellerault and Poitiers ) by Charles Martel and his infantry. This ignited

6528-474: The introduction of kit form helical stairs. Modular, standardized steps and handrails can be bolted together to form a complete unit. These stairs can be made out of steel, timber, concrete, or a combination of materials. Where there is insufficient space for the full run length of normal stairs, "alternating tread stairs" may be used (other names are "paddle stairs", "zig-zag stairs", or "double-riser stairs"). Alternating tread stairs can be designed to allow for

6624-556: The king's forests without permission. It is said that Turonus was buried in Tours and the city is founded around his grave. In Gallic times, Tours was an important crossing point over the Loire . It became part of the Roman Empire during the 1st century AD, and the city was named Caesarodunum ("hill of Caesar"). The name evolved in the 4th century when the original Gallic name, Turones , became Civitas Turonum and then Tours . It

6720-724: The largest amphitheaters of the Roman Empire, the Tours Amphitheatre . Known for the Battle of Tours in 732 AD, it is a National Sanctuary with connections to the Merovingians and the Carolingians , with the Capetians making the kingdom's currency the Livre tournois . Saint Martin and Gregory of Tours were from Tours. Tours was once part of Touraine , a former province of France. Tours

6816-488: The largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire , France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire . The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metropolitan area was 516,973. Tours sits on the lower reaches of the Loire , between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. Formerly named Caesarodunum by its founder, Roman Emperor Augustus , it possesses one of

6912-462: The main floor hallway is genuine, but the two columns at the stairway's base are scagliola , imitating marble . This original decorative work remains unaltered. [REDACTED]  This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Park Service . Tours Tours ( / t ʊər / TOOR , French: [tuʁ] ) is

7008-485: The most notable feature is a broad U-shaped stairway leading to the second floor, with a wrought iron banister decorated with gold-colored medallions . The interior walls, ceiling , and columns create an illusion of more expensive materials through expert craftsmanship. What appears to be dressed stone walls and a tooled leather and brocade tapestry ceiling are actually plaster painted in red, olive, green, cream, and gilt to mimic these materials. The marble wainscoting in

7104-432: The newels. At corners, there are quarter-turn caps . For post-to-post systems, the newels project above the handrails. Another, more classical, form of handrailing that is still in use is the tangent method. A variant of the cylindric method of layout, it allows for continuous climbing and twisting rails and easings. It was defined from principles set down by architect Peter Nicholson in the 18th century. The dimensions of

7200-625: The north and south. The main facade , facing east, is particularly impressive. Set back about 30 feet from the street, it is surrounded by landscaped gardens featuring lawns , shrubs , trees, and curving flower beds. A broad central stairway leads to a balustraded terrace spanning the front of the central section. The central portion of the building (86' by 66') comprises five bays. The ground floor features round arch openings with molded architraves , containing wood-framed sash windows with triple horizontal and vertical divisions. These windows have shallow balconies with classical balustrades. Above,

7296-470: The other remains usable. The traditional way to satisfy this requirement was to construct two separate stairwell stacks, each occupying its own footprint within each floorplate. Each stairwell is internally configured into an arrangement often called a "U-return" or "return" design. The two stairwells may be constructed next to each other, separated by a fireproof partition, or optionally the two stairwells may be located at some distance from each other within

7392-488: The relocation of city offices to 2180 Milvia Street in 1977, is a two-story Beaux-Arts building in the French Renaissance style . Constructed with steel-reinforced concrete and finished with stucco , it features an attic and a basement . The building's U-shaped structure includes a semi-circular stair-bay at the rear. Its symmetrical design is divided into a central section flanked by two smaller wings, projecting to

7488-651: The rest of the country, Tours is a jumping-off point for tourist visits to the Loire Valley and the royal châteaux . Tours is on one of the main lines of the TGV. It is possible to travel to the west coast of Bordeaux in two and a half hours. From there, the line follows the Mediterranean coast via Avignon , and then to Spain and Barcelona . There are also lines to Lyon , Strasbourg and Lille . It takes less than one hour by train to get from Tours to Paris by TGV and one and

7584-506: The route of pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela , a major centre during the Middle Ages. In the 6th century, Gregory of Tours , author of the Ten Books of History , restored a cathedral destroyed by a fire in 561. Saint Martin's monastery benefited from its inception, at the very start of the 6th century from patronage and support from the Frankish king, Clovis I , which increased considerably

7680-415: The same floor footprint. This is often in compliance with legal safety requirements to have two independent fire escape paths. Helical stairs can be characterized by the number of turns that are made. A "quarter-turn" stair deposits the person facing 90° from the starting orientation. Likewise, there are half-turn, three-quarters-turn and full-turn stairs. A continuous helix may make many turns depending on

7776-548: The same time as, for example, the Château de Chenonceau . When the 15th-century illuminator Jean Fouquet was set the task of illuminating Josephus 's Jewish Antiquities , his depiction of Solomon's Temple was modelled on the nearly complete cathedral of Tours. The atmosphere of the Gothic cathedral close permeates Honoré de Balzac 's dark short novel of jealousy and provincial intrigues, Le Curé de Tours ( The Curate of Tours ) and his medieval story Maître Cornélius opens in

7872-589: The same time. In 1849 he started the nightly adoration of the Blessed Sacrament , which spread throughout France. Upon hearing of Sister Marie of St Peter 's reported visions, he started to burn a vigil lamp continuously before a picture of the Holy Face of Jesus . The devotion was eventually approved by Pope Pius XII in 1958 and he formally declared the Feast of the Holy Face of Jesus as Shrove Tuesday (the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday) for all Roman Catholics. The Oratory of

7968-686: The same vertical space, allowing one person to ascend and another to descend without ever meeting, if they choose different helices. For examples, the Pozzo di San Patrizio allows one-way traffic so that laden and unladen mules can ascend and descend without obstruction, while Château de Chambord , Château de Blois , and the Crédit Lyonnais headquarters ensure separation for social purposes. Emergency exit stairways, though built with landings and straight runs of stairs, are often functionally double helices, with two separate stairs intertwined and occupying

8064-405: The second-floor windows, now fitted with aluminum sash that retain the original divisions, also feature projecting balconies with balustrades. The central facade is adorned with six giant order-length ionic columns supporting a cornice with ornamental dentils and monumental urns . Behind the urns is a blank frieze ending in a secondary cornice molding with a central cartouche . The central portion

8160-608: The site of one of the most important choral competitions, called Florilège Vocal de Tours International Choir Competition, and is a member city of the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing . The population data in the table and graph below refer to the commune of Tours proper, in its geography at the given years. The commune of Tours absorbed the former commune of Saint-Étienne in 1845 and Sainte-Radegonde-en-Touraine and Saint-Symphorien in 1964. Today, with extensive rail (including TGV ) and autoroute connections linking to

8256-469: The stack into alternating locations on each successive floor, and this can be very disorienting. Some building codes recommend using a color-coded stripe and signage to distinguish otherwise identical-looking stairwells from each other, and to make following a quick exit path easier. Ergonomically and for safety reasons, stairs must have certain dimensions so that people can comfortably use them. Building codes typically specify certain clearances so that

8352-405: The terms "helix" and "helical" to describe circular stairways more clearly and precisely, while reserving the term "spiral" for a curve restricted to a flat plane. Helical stairs, sometimes referred to in architectural descriptions as vice , wind around a newel (also called the "central pole"). The presence or absence of a central pole or newel does not affect the overall terminology applied to

8448-415: The top and bottom. However, many modern architects may not choose straight flights of stairs because: Another form of a straight staircase is the "space saver staircase", also known as "paddle stairs" or "alternating tread staircases". These designs can be used for a steeper rise, but they can only be used in certain circumstances, and must comply with regulations. However, a basic straight flight of stairs

8544-428: The twisting curvilinear shape as an embellishment, either within or outside of their buildings. Helical stairs have the disadvantage of being very steep if they are tight (small radius) or are otherwise not supported by a center column. The cylindrical spaces they occupy can have a narrow or wide diameter: "Open well" helical or circular stairs designed by architects often do not have a central pole, but there usually

8640-410: The use of French in all legal acts, notarized contracts and official legislation to avoid any linguistic confusion. Gregory of Tours wrote in the 6th century that some people in the area could still speak Gaulish . The city has a population of 140,000 and is called "Le Jardin de la France" ("The Garden of France"). There are several parks located within the city. Tours is located between two rivers,

8736-479: The well-known counter-revolutionary chief of Mayenne, was shot in Tours. The arrival of the railway in the 19th century saved the city by making it an important nodal point. The main railway station is known as Tours-Saint-Pierre-des-Corps. At that time, Tours was expanding towards the south into a district known as the Prébendes. The importance of the city as a centre of communications contributed to its revival and, as

8832-503: Was at this time that the Tours Amphitheatre was built. Tours became a metropolis in the Roman province of Lugdunum towards 380–388 AD, dominating Maine , Brittany, and the Loire Valley . One important figure in the city was Saint Martin of Tours , a bishop who shared his coat with a naked beggar in Amiens . The importance of Martin in the medieval Christian West made Tours, and its position on

8928-462: Was begun about 1170 to replace the cathedral that was burnt out in 1166 during the dispute between Louis VII of France and Henry II of England . The lowermost stages of the western towers belong to the 12th century, but the rest of the west end is in the profusely detailed 15th-century Flamboyant Gothic , which were completed just as the Renaissance was affecting the patrons who planned the châteaux of Touraine. The towers were being constructed at

9024-476: Was built towards 918) and became "Châteauneuf". This space, organized between Saint Martin and the Loire, became the economic centre of Tours. Between these two centres were Varennes, vineyards and fields, little occupied except for the Abbaye Saint-Julien established on the banks of the Loire. The two centres were linked during the 14th century. Tours became the capital of the county of Tours or Touraine ,

9120-444: Was founded and centred on the bank of the Loire in the downtown area, not, as was the current practice, in a campus in the suburbs. The latter solution was also chosen by the twin university of Orleans. Royer's long term as mayor was, however, not without controversy, as is exemplified by the construction of the practical but aesthetically unattractive motorway, which runs along the bed of a former canal just 1,500 metres (4,900 feet) from

9216-662: Was the first city of the silk industry. It was taken by Louis XI , as the royal capital under the Valois Kings with its Loire castles and city of art with the School of Tours. The prefecture was partially destroyed during the French Wars of Religion in the late 16th century and again during the Second World War in June 1940. The White and Blue city keeps a historical center registered in

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