Poitiers and its surroundings
Poitiers, its town hall, Notre-Dame-la-Grande, its cathedral and streets, and the surrounding countryside. 65 photos
About this gallery
“Pictave” describes anything from Poitiers, after the Pictones, the Gallic people who gave their name to the city and to the Poitou region. Karl Forterre used the word in several titles, for rooftops, a bridge, a balcony and a gilded statue. The gallery starts in the old town: the town hall and its belfry under a blue or stormy sky, or behind the big wheel of the Christmas market; the Romanesque façade of Notre-Dame-la-Grande in a burst of sunlight; Saint-Pierre cathedral and its two uneven towers; a busy street where a glass tower stands beside old façades.
From the heights, the views take in the town stepped up its hillside, its tiled roofs and bell towers; below run the river, a weir and a footbridge. In the streets: the Cordeliers shopping center, a blue door on rue de Blossac, café terraces, an ivy-covered lane, a Vitalis bus under a double rainbow, a train at the platform seen from above, the pigeons of a market. In March 2023, marches against the pension reform crossed the town amid red flags and smoke flares, and an evening of legislative elections, in 2024, had its flags too.
Further out, in the surrounding countryside, a tall stone viaduct with arches spans a wooded valley in autumn colors, and a regional train crosses a plain of green wheat. These royalty-free photos suit stories about Poitiers, the Vienne department, Romanesque and Gothic heritage or student life, and can be downloaded for free on Pexels.