La Tour Charlemagne (Tours, France)
N 47° 23.592 E 000° 40.953
31T E 325115 N 5251464
Magnificent Romanesque Charlemagne Tower (La Tour Charlemagne) is one of two remaining towers of huge early medieval Basilica of St. Martin in Tours...
Waymark Code: WM9FV4
Location: Centre-Val-de-Loire, France
Date Posted: 08/15/2010
Views: 47
Magnificent Romanesque Charlemagne Tower (La Tour Charlemagne) is one of two remaining towers of huge early medieval Basilica of St. Martin in Tours...
The Basilica of St. Martin (Basilique St-Martin), on the Via Turonensis from Paris, was one of the great pilgrimage churches of France. It was originally built in the late 400s to house the St. Martin's tomb and then greatly upsized after several fires and rebuilds, until the Huguenots came along in 1562 and did a pillage job. The huge old Romanesque structure never recovered, getting more and more dilapidated until, like many of her sisters in France, she was made into stables and stores in the early post-revolution 1790s, before generally collapsing shortly afterwards. At the beginning of the 1800s most of the huge monastic site was cleared and used for roads and housing. A new basilica was built in the corner to house St Martin's tomb, an unexpected survivor in the surrounding mess.
The Charlemagne Tower is one of two till now remaining parts of the Old Basilica...