ISSOUDUN, chief town of an arrondissement in the department of Indre, France, is situated on the Théols, 17 miles N.E. of Châteauroux, and 145 miles S. of Paris. It is the seat of the usual Government and public offices; and there are also chambers of agriculture and of arts and manufactures, a communal college, a public library, a departmental prison, a hospital, an orphanage, and several religious and benevolent institutions. Among the interesting buildings are the church of St Cyr, combining various architectural styles, with a fine porch and window, the Hôtel de la Préfecture, the chapel of the Hôtel Dieu, and the Palais de Justice, begun in 1856. Of the fortifications with which the town was formerly surrounded the White Tower, a massive cylindrical building of the 13th century, alone remains. Issoudun has quarries of lithographic stone, tanneries, grain, woollen, and saw mills, and manufactures of brass, linen, parchment, steam-engines and machinery, cutlery, and cloth. It carries on trade in lithographic stones, grain, wine, iron, cattle, and horses. The population in 1876 was 11,293.

Issoudun, in Latin Auxellodunιιm, Exoldunum, or Isoldunum, existed in Roman times. It has suffered severely from conflagrations; a very destructive one in 1651 was the result of an attack on the city in the war of the Fronde. Louis XIV. rewarded the staunch fidelity of the city to him by several privileges.