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An intellectual centre in the 1400s and a lively university city today, Angers – the historical seat of the Plantagenet dynasty and the dukes of Anjou – makes an engaging western gateway to the Loire Valley. The mostly pedestrianised old town supports a thriving cafe culture, thanks in part to the dynamic presence of over 39,000 students, as well as some excellent places to eat. The city is famous for two sets of breathtaking tapestries, one from the 14th century, the other from the 20th.
These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Angers.
Chateau
Looming above the river, this forbidding medieval castle – seat of power of the once-mighty counts of Anjou – is ringed by moats, 2.5m-thick walls and 17 scarily massive round towers. The centrepiece is the stunning Tenture de l’Apocalypse (Apocalypse Tapestry), a 104m-long series of tapestries commissioned in 1375 to illustrate the story of the final battle between good and evil, as prophesied in the Bible's Book of Revelation.
Museum
Inspired by the Apocalypse Tapestry in the château, Jean Lurçat (1892–1966) began his epic tapestry masterpiece, Le Chant du Monde (Song of the World; 1957–61), just 12 years after the slaughter of WWII; scenes depict everything from the delights of Champagne to space exploration to nuclear holocaust. A quintessentially mid-20th-century meditation on the human condition, it is exuberant but contemplative, and only guardedly optimistic. The museum also exhibits a changing kaleidoscope of extraordinarily beautiful 20th-century and 21st-century tapestries.
Historic Site
One of the earliest examples of Angevin (Plantagenet) architecture in France, Gothic Cathédrale St-Maurice is distinguished by its striking Norman portal and nave (mid-1100s), 13th- to 15th-century stained glass, humongous organ and supremely baroque baldachin (1758) over the high altar. From the square in front, a monumental staircase, Montée St-Maurice, leads down to a new riverside esplanade (under construction at the time of research) and a gourmet covered market (set to open in 2020).
Church
Angers' austere, mainly 12th- to 13th-century cathedral has a striking Norman porch and nave (mid-1100s); the latter's three convex vaults, forming a perfect square, are outstanding examples of mid-12th-century Angevin (Plantagenet) vaulting. Much of the stained glass dates from the early 13th to the mid-15th centuries. In the 18th century a humongous organ was erected inside the western façade, facing a supremely baroque baldachin (1758) over the high altar.
Gallery
Has a superior 14th- to 20th-century collection (mainly paintings) that ranges from French masters Ingres, Fragonard and Watteau to the Florentine Lorenzo Lippi to Flemish and Dutch Golden Age painters such as Jacob Jordaens. Also has a section on the history of Angers and hosts two special expositions a year. The exuberant sculpture in the courtyard, L'Arbre aux Serpents (Serpent Tree) by Niki de Saint Phalle, was restored in 2017.
Museum
The Angers-born sculptor Pierre-Jean David (1788–1856), aka David d’Angers, is renowned for his lifelike sculptures, which adorn public monuments such as the Panthéon in Paris and can be seen in the Louvre and Paris' Père Lachaise cemetery. Here in the 12th-century Toussaint Abbey, flooded with light thanks to a striking glass-and-girder ceiling, you can admire original plaster studio casts and drawings of most of his creations.
Landmark
The square in front of Cathédrale St-Maurice is linked to a new riverside esplanade (under construction in 2018) and a gourmet covered market (set to open in 2020) by the monumental Montée St-Maurice staircase.
Historic Building
Right behind Cathédrale St-Maurice stands the Maison d’Adam, one of the city’s best-preserved medieval houses (c 1500), which is decorated with a riot of carved, bawdy wooden sculptures. The Tree of Life, on the corner, was once flanked by Adam and Eve (another loved-up couple can be seen nearby).