Culture

Main sights The Maison d'Adam (Adam's House) was built around 1500

The Château d'Angers, built on a schist promontory, dominates the river Maine and the old town. Its site has been occupied since antiquity; the castle itself was built between 1230 and 1240 by Louis IX of France. The massive walls are about one kilometer long and punctuated by 17 towers; they were built with horizontal slices of tuff and schist, giving it strength and an original striped look. During the 15th century, a chapel and the Châtelet were added in the courtyard.

The Maison d'Adam (Adam's House), located behind the cathedral, is an excellent example of the half-timbered houses which were built during the Middle Ages. Many similar houses, although smaller, are also visible along the streets around the castle. The city also displays several Renaissance and classical hôtels particuliers, the most renowned being the Logis Pincé from the 16th century. The Maison bleue (Blue House), built in 1927, is an Art Deco masterpiece. The former seat of the Compagnie française d'Aviation was built in 1938 and abandoned during the Second World War. Totally refurbished in 2004, it is now a testimony to 1930s architecture.

The Saint-Maurice cathedral is a major landmark in the cityscape, with its two spires culminating at 75 meters. The construction of the current building started during the 12th century on the remains of an older sanctuary. The original structure, romanesque, received gothic columns and vaults in the middle of the 12th century, giving birth to the Angevin gothic, a style that quickly spread in Western France and the Angevin possessions in Italy. Sculptures and architectural details were added to the façade during the 16th century. The twin spires were built in 1518 and 1523. The neighbouring Palais du Tau, the former episcopal palace, dates from the 12th century.

The skyline is also marked by the Tour Saint-Aubin. Completed in 1170, it was the bell-tower of an abbey closed during the French Revolution and destroyed in 1810. Elaborately sculptured 11th and 12th century arcades also survive in the courtyard of the Prefecture. Another abbey, the Abbaye Toussaint, founded during the 13th century, was also partially pulled down and only the church and parts of the cloister are still visible. On the southern limits of the commune, close to the Maine, stands the Couvent de la Baumette, founded during the 15th century by René of Anjou.

La Doutre, an old quarter located on the western bank of the Maine and facing the castle, contains two major medieval sites, the former Abbaye du Ronceray, built during the 11th and 12th century, and the Hôpital Saint-Jean, founded by Henry II of England and used as the city hospital until 1870.

The distinctive striped towers of the castle

The castle

The Châtelet in the castle

House Poisson

House of Croissant

Logis Pincé

The "Blue House"

The cathedral

Inside the cathedral

Palace of Tau

Tower of Saint-Aubin

Abbey of Ronceray

Abbey of Saint Nicholas (Mother-House of Good Shepherd Sisters)

Museums The Apocalypse Tapestry

The Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Angers, located in the Renaissance Logis Barrault, displays a collection of paintings and sculptures dating from the 14th century to today. It is particularly renowned for its 18th century paintings, including works by Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Van Loo, Antoine Watteau, Jean-Honoré Fragonard and Jean Siméon Chardin. The museum also contains a graphic design studio, a gallery devoted to the history of Angers and a temporary exhibition gallery. The institution has an antenna at the château in Villevêque, a village located several kilometers north of the city.

Inside the castle, a special gallery displays the Apocalypse Tapestry, ordered by Louis I of Naples at the end of the 14th century. It is more than 140 meters long, and thus, the biggest medieval tapestry in the world. Inspired by manuscript miniatures, the successive scenes, designed by Jean Bondol, illustrate the Apocalypse of St John.

Located inside the old Hôpital Saint-Jean, the Musée Jean-Lurçat et de la tapisserie contemporaine displays tapestries dating from the 19th and 20th centuries. The museum is dedicated to Jean Lurçat, an artist noted for his role in the revival of contemporary tapestry, and notably exhibits his "Chant du Monde", a modern echo to the Apocalypse Tapestry made after the bombing of Hiroshima.

The Muséum d'histoire naturelle d’Angers has been located in the 1521 Hôtel Demarie-Valentin since 1885. It exhibits a large collection of mounted animals and fossils, divided in three departments, one for zoology, one for botany and the last one for paleontology and geology.

The Logis Pincé, constructed during the Renaissance, is the home of the museum of the same name. It displays Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Etruscan antiquities as well as Chinese and Japanese artifacts.

Located in the Abbaye Toussaint, the Galerie David d'Angers gathers sculptures, reliefs, medallions by David d'Angers, a 19th-century sculptor born in the city. The gallery owns as well the preparatory works for the Panthéon of Paris pediment.

Angers also enjoys a Maison de l'Architecture, which organises various exhibitions and workshops, as well as several temporary exhibition galleries distributed in the city centre. Outside the commune limits are also an aviation museum and a museum of communications.

The Musée des Beaux-Arts

Les Génies des Arts by François Boucher, at the Musée des Beaux-Arts

Italian drawing, 17th century, at the Musée des Beaux-Arts

Musée Jean-Lurçat

Galerie David d'Angers

Galerie David d'Angers

Entertainment and performing arts The Grand Théâtre

The Grand Théâtre, dominating the Place du Ralliement, was first built in 1791, but destoyed by a fire in 1853. The existing building was completed in 1871 and its auditorium contains six stalls and four balconies, totaling 730 seats. The Théâtre du Quai, inaugurated in 2007, has two auditoriums; one contains 980 seats and several balconies, and the other, more flexible, can welcome 400 seated or 960 standing spectators. The Grand Théâtre and the Théâtre du Quai are the venues of three institutions, Angers-Nantes Opéra, an opera company also based in Nantes, the Contemporary Dance National Centre (CNDC), inaugurated by Alwin Nikolais in 1978, and the Nouveau théâtre d'Angers (NTA).

The Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, shared with Nantes, usually performs at the Congress Centre, built in 1983, with a capacity of 1,240 seats. Other concert halls include the Chabada, the Amphitéa and the former Ursuline chapel. Local theatre companies perform at Théâtre Chanzy, Théâtre du Champ de Bataille, Théâtre de la Comédie or at the Centre Jean Vilar. Each September, the city organises a street performance festival, called the Accroche-Cœurs.

The Chabada, a popular concert hall, is the cradle of the Angevin contemporary scene and several groups and performers were discovered there, Les Thugs, a punk band formed in 1983, being the first ones. The local scene also includes the alternative rock group La Ruda, the power pop band Pony Pony Run Run, the world music band Lo'Jo and Titi Robin, a performer influenced by Gypsy and Arabic music.

The Premiers Plans festival, dedicated to European first films and meant to help new directors meet their audience, is conducted every year and lasts one week. The films are screened in three small cinemas, while two big generalist multiplexes also exist in Angers.

Media

Angers had a local TV channel Angers 7 which went bankrupt in 2010. The national French channel France 3, however, still presents local news in its programs. Several national radio stations, such as Virgin Radio, NRJ and Chérie FM maintain local antennas in Angers. The city is also the home of two local stations, Radio Campus and Radio G !. Ouest-France and Le Courrier de l'Ouest are the two local newspapers, the last one having its headquarters in Angers. The city and Angers Loire Métropole also edit their news bulletins.