Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The former church of Saint Francis de Tours, built in the 17th century, was originally integrated into an architectural complex including the Beaune-Semblançay hotel, a Renaissance building. The bombings of 1940, which ravaged an entire district of Tours, partially spared this already heavily damaged church. Only its tower, adjacent to the chapel of the Beaune-Semblançay hotel, was preserved to avoid damage to the latter. This tower, classified as a historical monument by decree of 16 March 1943, illustrates the sober style of the seventeenth century with its wide pilasters, flat bands and rectangular windows framed with chambranles.

The tower still retains remarkable elements, such as an oval room on the ground floor, an old outbuilding of the church, and a spiral staircase leading to its first floor. These remains recall the historic significance of the building, destroyed by the Bridges and Chausses after the damage of the Second World War. The decision to preserve the tower reflects both a desire to preserve a fragile architectural heritage and the inextricable link between this work and the nearby Renaissance chapel, which is itself classified.

The hotel of Beaune-Semblançay, to which the tower is joined, is a major realization of the Tourangelle Renaissance, while the church of Saint Francis, though disappeared, witnessed the religious urbanization of Tours in the seventeenth century. The destructions of 1940 revealed and isolated these remains, providing a unique insight into the architectural and urban evolution of the city, between medieval heritage, Renaissance and classicism. The protection of the tower in 1943 underscores its role as a historical marker in an urban landscape profoundly transformed by modern conflicts.

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