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The Loire

Museum sights in The Loire

  1. Fine Arts Museum

    In the Fine Arts Museum objects illustrating the history of Angers are gorgeously displayed on the ground floor. Upstairs, the paintings - none of them consciousness-changing but many of them excellent - include some compelling Italian works from the first half of the 1800s.

    Here you will find the dramatic, Dante-inspired Paolo et Francesca by Jean-August-Dominique Ingres, in which Francesca's elderly and deformed husband, a homicidal look on his face, discovers his wife in the arms of his younger brother Paoli (in one of the two red rooms). Audioguides are being prepared.

    reviewed

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    Tenture de l'Apocalypse

    The magnificent Tenture de l'Apocalypse is a 101m-long series of 70 tapestries, commissioned by Louis I, Duke of Anjou, in 1375 to illustrate the Revelation to John - the last book of the New Testament. From June to August free guided tours begin at 10:30 and 16:00. There are plans to introduce free audioguides. Tapestry of the Apocalypse at Angers: Front and Back (around €33), available in the gift shop, explains all, scene by scene. Ticket sales end 45 minutes before closing.

    reviewed

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    Galerie David d'Angers

    Larger-than-life sculptures by Angers-born sculptor David d'Angers (1788-1856) are displayed in Galerie David d'Angers, housed in a 12th-century abbey church transformed into contemporary architecture in the early 1980s. The cloister next door leads to a garden overlooked by Nikki de St-Phalle's colourful Serpent Tree, a children's playground (behind the library) and the Musée des Beaux-Arts.

    reviewed

  4. Cointreau Museum

    At the Cointreau Museum you won't discover the top-secret recipe for the famous orange liqueur - every bottle of which is made right here - but you will find yourself inhaling some pretty intoxicating aromas. The 13:30 tour in July and August is in English. The museum is off the ring road to the east of Angers. By bus, take No 7 from the train station.

    reviewed

  5. House of Magic

    Facing the chateau and dedicated to the all-time great, Blois-born magician Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin - after whom the escapist Houdini named himself - the Maison de la Magie museum features interactive exhibits and fascinating clocks invented by Robert-Houdin. Be sure not to miss a trick at the magic show.

    reviewed

  6. Jean Lurçat Museum of Contemporary Tapestry

    Ensconced in the opulent, Gothic-vaulted sick wards of a one-time hospital (1180-1865), the Jean Lurçat Museum of Contemporary Tapestry showcases monumental 20th-century tapestries by Jean Lurçat, Thomas Gleb and others.

    reviewed