Poitiers: the battle that halted an empire

In 732, just outside Poitiers, the Frankish army halted the Umayyad advance in Western Europe in a battle historians consider among the most decisive of the Middle Ages.

The centre, near the battlefield where the Arab advance was halted in 732, is easily explored on foot.

The Church of Notre-Dame-la-Grande, with its Romanesque façade sculpted in bas-relief, remains one of the best-preserved examples of eleventh-century religious sculpture in France.

A short walk away, the Palace of the Counts of Poitiers, which includes an ancient medieval hall of lost steps, today houses the city's courthouse, still in full operation.

Continuing, you visit the Baptistry of Saint John, a fourth-century building considered among the most ancient Christian monuments still standing in France.

As evening falls, the Futuroscope, a theme park dedicated to cinema and technology just outside the city, closes the day among multimedia attractions.

The Battle of Poitiers in 732, which saw Charles Martel's Frankish army halt the Umayyad advance, is still debated by historians regarding its true importance in the course of European history.

The Baptistry of St. John, built already in the late Roman era, predates by centuries most of the other religious buildings still visible in France.