Note 154 — Chapter VI · Six of the Lesser Great Cathedrals: Bourges, Beauvais, Troyes, Tours, Lyons, Le Mans

Behind the choir of Tours Cathedral, in the Place Grégoire de Tours, a veritable nook of the Middle Ages, are XII-century vestiges of the Episcopal Palace, a mansion of the XV century, and near by is the rue de la Psalette, in which Balzac set the scene of his Curé de Tours. Why has not Tours named her chief square and residential street for Balzac, her own son, instead of for Emile Zola? Balzac’s sister has told of the profound impression made on him by the cathedral of Tours, especially by its marvels of stained glass, so that all through the novelist’s life the mere name “St. Gatien” had the power to rouse him to the dreams and aspirations of his youth.