Every design for Poitiers

Have you ever counted the bell towers of Poitiers? People still call it the city of a hundred bell towers, and from the streets of the old centre it is easy to believe them. Set on the river Clain in west-central France, the capital of the Vienne has a way of making students, newcomers and old families feel equally at home.

What makes it unique is how much history fits into so little space. The Baptistère Saint-Jean, dating from the fourth century, stands a short walk from the Merovingian underground chapel of the Hypogée des Dunes, the twelfth-century Notre-Dame-la-Grande and the Église Saint-Hilaire le Grand. Eleanor of Aquitaine held her court in the palace of the Counts of Poitou, and two great battles were fought in the area, including the one in which King John II of France was captured. The university has drawn students for centuries, Descartes and Rabelais among them, and today more than thirty thousand study here, so the half-timbered streets never feel like a museum.

From the paths of the Parc de Blossac, it is the jagged skyline of towers and spires that stays with you long after you leave.