The Cathédrale St-Gatien , standing on the square of the same name, illustrates the entire evolution of Gothic designs in France, starting with the thirteenth-century chevet and ending in the glorious Flamboyant Gothic of the west front and towers, a mesmerizing overdose of sculpted pattern to which Renaissance belfries have been added as the cherry on the cake. When the sun is shining, the inside of the cathedral becomes a magical kaleidoscope, with the stained-glass windows projecting neat, multi-hued shards of colour.

 

Just south of the cathedral, housed in the former archbishop's palace, is the Musée des Beaux-Arts (daily except Tues 9am-12.45pm & 2-6pm; free), overshadowed by a 200-year-old Lebanon cedar. The museum has some beauties in its rambling collection: Christ in the Garden of Olives and the Resurrection by Mantegna; Frans Hals's portrait of Descartes; Balzac painted by Boulanger; prints of The Five Senses by the Tourainais Abraham Bosse; and a sombre Monet. Its top treasure, however, Rembrandt's Flight into Egypt , is unfortunately difficult to see through the security glass. The roster of special exhibits is also worth keeping an eye out for.

On the other side of the cathedral, between rue Albert-Thomas and the river, is the site of the ancient royal château of Tours, of which just two medieval towers remain. The Tour de Guise , now embedded in the seventeenth-century Pavillon de Mars, houses a waxworks museum, the Historial de Touraine (daily: mid-March to June, Sept & Oct 9am-noon & 2-6pm; July & Aug 9am-6.30pm; Nov to mid-March 2-5.30pm; 35F/¬5.33), which makes the various courtly murders, marriages and machinations seem like a bad Disney cartoon. You can push mock-medieval French history out of your mind by replacing it with gently waving multicoloured fish in the Aquarium Tropical in the same buildings (daily: mid-March to June & Sept to mid-Nov 9.30am-noon & 2-6pm; July & Aug 9.30am-7pm; mid-Nov to mid-March 2-6pm; 30F/¬5.34). In the fifteenth-century Logis des Gouverneurs alongside (mid-March to mid-Dec Wed & Sat 3-6.30pm; free), across the remnants of the city's Gallo-Roman wall, there's an exhibition of historical artefacts called "Vivre à Tours" (Life in Tours) that gives quite a plausible sense of how the city has developed over the centuries.