Tournus

Tournus
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Coat of arms of Tournus Coat of arms
Tournus
Location within Burgundy region Tournus
Coordinates:
Country	France
Region	Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
Department	Saône-et-Loire
Arrondissement	Mâcon
Canton	Tournus
Intercommunality	Tournugeois
Government
• Mayor (2008–)	Jean Legros
Area1	25 km2 (10 sq mi)
Population (2006)2	6,247
• Density	250/km2 (650/sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	71543 / 71700
Elevation	168–353 m (551–1,158 ft) (avg. 193 m or 633 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Tournus is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne in eastern France.

Geography

Tournus is located on the right bank of the Saône, 20 km. northeast of Mâcon on the Paris-Lyon railway.

Sights

The church of St Philibert (early 11th century), once belonging to the Benedictine abbey of Tournus, suppressed in 1785, is in the Burgundian Romanesque style. The façade lacks one of the two flanking towers originally designed for it. The nave is roofed with barrel vaulting, supported on tall cylindrical columns. Both the choir and the 11th century crypt beneath it have an ambulatory and side chapels.

File:St Philibert Tournus nave.jpg

In the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville stands a statue of Jean-Baptiste Greuze, born in the town in 1725.

Economy

Tournus is an important tourist area, with one four-star hotel (the Greuze) and one three-star hotel (the Rempart). In 2013, four restaurants had a Michelin star: the Greuze, Quartier Gourmand, Aux Terasses, and Meulien.

There are vineyards in the surrounding district and the town and its port have considerable commerce in wine and in stone from the neighboring quarries. Chairmaking is an important industry.

There are several industrial areas to the north and south-west. The town manufactures a large quantity of domestic white goods, at the Groupe SEB factory, and cookware at the Tefal factory.

There is a market every Saturday morning.

Sport

• On 9 June 2009, the town was the start of the 182 km (113 mi) Stage 3 of the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré cycle race.
• On 10 July 2010, the town was en route of the 165.5 km (102.8 mi) Stage 7 of the Tour de France cycle race.

People

• Birthplace of Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1725 – 1805), painter.
• Home of Gabriel Voisin (February 5, 1880 – December 25, 1973), aviation and automobile pioneer.
• Birthplace of Marie-Hélène Mathieu (July 4, 1929), religious worker for the disabled.
• See also: Category:People from Tournus.

See also

• Communes of the Saône-et-Loire department

References

• INSEE
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: