Eglise Saint Julien (Saint-Julien Church), Tours

The Eglise Saint Julien is one of the prime religious monuments of Tours. Situated at the beginning of the Rue Nationale, it’s near the Pont Wilson bridge across the Loire River. Dating from 1240 to 1840, this church is a listed historical monument that features beautiful stained glass windows and magnificent architecture.

Resulting from several successive campaigns of construction and recovery, the current abbey church mixes several architectural styles. In the second half of the xi th century, Abbot Gerbert makes a total reconstruction of the abbey church in style novel . The bell tower-porch Note 1 which gives access to the current church certainly dates from this phase of reconstruction. The reliefs of the capitals of the porch, designed by Gustave Guerin 9 , date from the xix th century; they were put in place during the 1960 restoration.

The new church was consecrated in 1084 , under the Archbishopric of Raoul I st of Langeais; it is dedicated to "our Lady, Saint Julian and all the saints".

The new nave of the abbey church was rebuilt between 1243 and 1259 10 ; at that time, gothic architecture prevailed. The church therefore takes on the general form that we know today. Part of the stained glass windows that adorn the nave and the choir were made by Max Ingrand. These windows replace those created in the xix th century in the workshop Lobin , destroyed during World War II.