Poitiers

Poitiers is a university city on the river Clain in west-central France. It is a commune, the capital of the Vienne department, part of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of France, and the historical center of Poitou Province. In 2022, the commune of Poitiers had a population of 89,427. Also in 2022, its conurbation had 133,833 inhabitants and its functional area 281,452 inhabitants. It is a city of art and history, still known popularly as the "Ville aux cent clochers" ("City of a 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, 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 "Court of Love".