The plaza of the town is picturesque; its streets including predominantly preserved historical architecture and half-timbered houses,[8] especially religious edifices, commonly from the Romanesque period.

The first, in 732, also known as the Battle of Tours (to avoid inevitable confusion with the second), saw the defending Frankish warhost commanded by Charles Martel defeat the belligerent expeditionary army of the Umayyad Caliphate led by Muslim general Abd al-Rahman al-Ghafiqi.

It saw the defeat of a larger French royal army by the English and the capture of King John II of France by the triumphant Prince of Wales Edward.

The Poitiers agglomeration, located halfway between Paris and Bordeaux, is home to the Futuroscope Technopole, which includes major public (CNED, Canopé, etc.)

With two million visitors annually, Futuroscope is the leading tourist site in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, and the third most popular amusement park in France after Disneyland Paris and the Puy du Fou.

The old town occupies the slopes and the summit of a plateau that rises 130 feet (40 m) above the streams which surround, and hence benefits from a very strong tactical situation.

[8] During most of the Early Middle Ages, the town of Poitiers took advantage of the defensively tactical placement of its location, which was far from the nucleus of Frankish power.

[14] The first decisive victory of a Western European Christian army over a Islamic power, the Battle of Tours, was fought by Charles Martel's men in the vicinity of Poitiers on 10 October 732.

Later in the war in 1418, under Charles VII, the royal parliament moved from Paris to Poitiers, where it remained in exile until the Plantagenets finally withdrew from the capital in 1436.

During and after the Reformation, John Calvin had numerous converts in Poitiers and the town had its share of the violent proceedings which underlined the Wars of Religion throughout France.

[8] The type of political organization existing in Poitiers during the late medieval and early modern period can be sheened through a speech given on 14 July 1595 by Maurice Roatin, the town's mayor.

He said the Roman Consulate corresponded to Poitiers' mayor, the Roman Senate to the town's peers and échevins, and the democratic element in Rome corresponded to the fact that most important matters "can not be decided except by the advice of the Mois et Cent" (the broad council).1 The mayor appears to have been an advocate of a mixed constitution; not all Frenchmen in 1595 would have agreed with him, at least in public; many spoke in favor of absolute monarchy which would be pioneered by the Father of Absolutism, Louis XIV 'Le Roi Soleil.'

The democratic element was not as strong as the mayor's words may have seemed to imply: In fact, Poitiers was similar to other French cities such as, Paris, Nantes, Marseille, Limoges, La Rochelle, and Dijon, in that the town's governing body (corps de ville) was "highly exclusive and oligarchical:" With a small number of professionals and family groups controlling most of the city offices.

In Poitiers many of these positions were granted for the lifetime of the office holder, an archaic byproduct of the Age of Absolutism in France.2 The city government in Poitiers based its claims to legitimacy on the theory of government where the mayor and échevins held jurisdiction of the fief's administration separate from the monarchy: that is, they swore allegiance and promised support for him, and in return he granted them local authority.

For example, in 1567, when Maixent Poitevin was mayor, King Henry III came for a visit, and, although some townspeople were disgruntled regarding the licentious behavior of his entourage, Henry smoothed things over with a warm speech acknowledging their allegiance and graciously thanking them for it.2 In this era, the mayor of Poitiers was preceded by sergeants wherever he went, consulted deliberative bodies, carried out their decisions, "heard civil and criminal suits in first instance", tried to ensure that the food supply would be adequate, and visited markets.2 In the 16th century, Poitiers impressed visitors because of its large size, and important features, including "royal courts, universities, prolific printing shops, wealthy religious institutions, cathedrals, numerous parishes, markets, impressive domestic architecture, extensive fortifications, and castle.

During the 17th century, many people emigrated from Poitiers and the Poitou to the French settlements in the new world and thus many Acadians who would later be Cajuns living in North America contemporarily can trace their ancestry back to this region.

The Caserne also housed a full support community, with a theater, commissary, recreation facilities and an affiliate radio station of the American Forces Network, Europe, headquartered in Frankfurt (now Mannheim, Germany.

)[citation needed] The town benefited from the industrial Décentralisation of France in the 1970s, for instance with the installation during that decade of the Michelin and Compagnie des compteurs Schlumberger factories.

The Futuroscope theme-park and research park project, built in 1986–1987 in nearby Chasseneuil-du-Poitou, after an idea by French politician René Monory, consolidated Poitiers' place as a touristic destination and as a modern university center, opening the town to the era of information technology.

Brian Joubert, the French figure skating champion, practices at Poitiers' Ice Rink and lives with his family in the city.

The kernel of town receives visits in complement to the theme-park and benefits from a larger proportion of European tourists, notably from the United Kingdom.

Between January 2009 and December 2012, Poitiers' town center underwent significant transformations aimed at reducing motor vehicle access.

The initiative, called "Projet Cœur d'Agglo," sought to rethink the role of individual car use for accessing the town center and daily transportation.

The University of Poitiers was established in 1431 and has welcomed many famous philosophers and scientists throughout the ages (notably François Rabelais; René Descartes; Francis Bacon; Samir Amin).