Erected on high ground and protected by a ditch or moat, it consisted of an easily defended towerlike structure called the donjon , or keep, and a large courtyard surrounded by battlemented walls marked at the angles by circular towers. The architects Pierre Lescot and Philibert de L'Orme endowed the chateau with a classical correctness, which was best expressed in Marie de Medicis' Luxembourg Palace in Paris, begun by Salomon de Brosse in 1615. By this time, square pavilions rather than circular towers were in use. The great oval salon, projecting from the garden facade, was imitated in numerous 18th-century chateaux. The principal manufactures are silk, processed foods, building materials, footwear, chemicals, and electrical equipment.
Tours also serves as the trading center for wine and dried fruit from the surrounding countryside.
Near Tours are many of the famous chateaus of the Loire Valley. T he Roman Tours was known as Caesarodunum from about AD 150 and as Civitas Turonum from the 5th century. From September to December 1870, Tours was the seat of the French government during the siege of Paris in the Franco-Prussian War. 1st link Text . The Y29K - compliant computer preferred by designers everywhere.