Bourges

Bourges, the capital of the French department of Cher, situated in a fertile plain at the confluence of the Auron and the Yèvre, 144 miles S. of Paris, and 69 SSE. of Orleans. Bourges is divided into an old and new town, the latter being built round the former. Its houses are of antique architecture, and its streets crooked and dirty. It was formerly surrounded by ramparts flanked with high towers, some of which still remain; but the ramparts have been converted into promenades. The cathedral (1220-1538) is a splendid Gothic edifice, the interior one of the noblest in France, being 405 feet long and 117 high. The sculptures of the west façade are admirable, and there is some very good stained glass. A university (1465) was suppressed at the Revolution. The hôtel-de-ville, begun by Jacques Cœur in 1443, is in the florid style of that century. Bourges has prospered since the era of railway communication, and has some trade in hemp, grain, cloth, leather, wool, and cattle. Brewing is carried on, and there are nurseries in the suburbs. Chosen in 1861 to be one of the military arsenals of France, Bourges has a cannon foundry, and has greatly increased in strategical importance since the loss of Metz. Pop. (1872) 27,377; (1891) 41,224. Bourges is of great antiquity, being the Avaricum of the Gauls, in the country of the Bituriges Cubi. Taken by Cæsar in 52 B.C., it became the capital of the Roman province of Aquitania Prima, and in the middle ages, of the province of Berri. Charles VII. had his residence at Bourges, when almost all France had been taken from him by the English. Louis XI. was a native, as was also the great preacher Bourdaloue. Several important ecclesiastical synods were held at Bourges.