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Angers
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Angers is a city in the Maine-et-Loire department in northwestern France about south-west of Paris. Angers is located in the French region known by its pre-revolutionary, provincial name, Anjou, and its inhabitants are called Angevins.
There are 157,000 people in the city of Angers and close to 283,000 in its metropolitan area.
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Encyclopedia
Angers is a city in the Maine-et-Loire department in northwestern France about south-west of Paris. Angers is located in the French region known by its pre-revolutionary, provincial name, Anjou, and its inhabitants are called Angevins.
There are 157,000 people in the city of Angers and close to 283,000 in its metropolitan area. The city traces its roots to early Roman times. It occupies both banks of the Maine, which is spanned by six bridges. The district along the river is famous for its flourishing nurseries and market gardens. It is well known for its fresh produce and cut flowers.
History
The first sign of human presence on the site of Angers is a stone tool dated back to 400,000 BC (Lower Paleolithic). The earliest known inhabitants were the Andecavi, a Gallic tribe that was overrun by the Romans. The city, while under Roman rule, was called Juliomagus.
The Council of Angers was held here in 453.
The city suffered severely from the invasions of the Normans (in 845 and succeeding years)
Angers was once the capital of the historic province of Anjou. Beginning in the ninth century, the region was controlled by a powerful family of feudal lords. It is the cradle of the House of Plantagenet who ruled England from the twelfth century and gave name to the Angevin Kings of England. During this time the Hospital of Saint-Jean was built in Angers by King Henry II of England. The edifice still stands to this day, now housing an important museum. In 1204 Angers was conquered by King Philippe II.
The Huguenots took it in 1585, and the Vendean royalists were defeated nearby in 1793 during the siege of Angers. Until the French Revolution Angers was the seat of a celebrated university founded in the 14th century.
Main sights
The site of a massive and ancient château, the city is also noted for the impressive twin spires of the twelfth century Cathedral of Saint-Maurice. Other noteworthy churches around Angers include St. Serge, an abbey-church of the 12th and 15th centuries, and the twelfth century La Trinité. [Cathedral:
The elaborately sculptured eleventh and twelfth century arcades of the famous abbey of Saint Aubin survive in the courtyard of the Prefecture and Hotel . The tower of the abbey church has also survived nearby. [Eglise Saint Aubin|
Ruins of the old churches of Toussaint (thirteenth century) and Notre-Dame du Ronceray (eleventh century) are also nearby. The ancient hospital of St. Jean (twelfth century) is occupied by Jean Lurcat's tapestries. The Logis Barrault, a mansion built in 1486-92, houses the Musee des Beaux-Arts, which has a large collection of paintings and sculptures. In 1984 the former abbey church of Toussaint became the Musee David d'Angers consisting of works by the sculptor David d'Angers, who was a native of the town. In the middle of a main boulevard near the museum stands his bronze statue of René of Anjou, who was born in the chateau of Angers.
The Hôtel de Pincé or d'Anjou (1523-1530) is the finest of the stone mansions of Angers. There are also many curious wooden houses of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The Palais de Justice, the Catholic Institute, a fine theatre, and a hospital with 1500 beds are the more remarkable of the modern buildings of the town. Angers is the seat of a bishopric, dating from the third century; a prefecture; a court of appeal; and a court of assizes (criminal courts). It has a tribunal of first instance, a tribunal of commerce, a board of trade-arbitrators, a chamber of commerce, a branch of the Bank of France, and several learned societies.
Economy
The early prosperity of the town is largely due to the nearby quarries of slate, whose abundant use for the roofs of Angers led to the city's nickname, the "Black City" (or la ville noire in French). Other industries (noted in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica) included the distillation of liqueurs from fruit (the orange liqueur Cointreau is only distilled in the town of Angers and the surrounding areas); cable, rope, and thread-making; the manufacture of boots, shoes, umbrellas, and parasols; weaving of sail-cloth and fabrics; machine construction; wire-drawing; and the manufacture of sparkling wines and preserved fruits. The chief articles of commerce, besides slate and manufactured goods, were hemp, early vegetables, fruit, flowers, and live-stock.
Many of these industries in 1911 have since disappeared. Nowadays industry consists of manufacturing lorries (Scania) and computers (Bull, Packard-Bell, NEC) as well as research in horticulture and biotechnologies.
Transport
There was a catastrophic failure of the Angers Bridge in 1850 which caused the deaths of over 250 soldiers on the structure at the time. It inhibited the construction of suspension bridges for many years after in France.
Culture
Angers has an orchestra ONPL shared with Nantes, a local theatre NTA (Nouveau Théatre d'Angers) and a dance school CNDC (Centre National de Danse Contemporaine).
Angers has a few important museum on the national level:
- "Musée des Beaux Arts" (Art & Sculpture, the permanent collections: 14th to the present) has just reopened, after five years of work.
- "Galerie David d'Angers", which is consecrated to the 19th century sculptor David d'Angers.
- "Musée Pincé", which holds a collection of Classical art, as well as Egyptian, Etruscan, Japanese and Chinese.
- "Musée Jean Lurçat et de la Tapisserie contemporaine", is a tapestry museum. The famous tapestry series "Le chant du Monde" by Jean Lurçat is in the ancient Hôpital St-Jean, the oldest hospital in France, while another modern building holds the contemporary collections, and also other works by Jean Lurçat.
- The tapestries "of the Apocalypse", originally made for Louis I d'Anjou in the 14th century, are today in Angers' castle after their restoration.
- Muséum d’histoire naturelle d’Angers is an important natural history museum in the "Hôtel Demarie-Valentin", dating from 1521.
Angers is a important center for tapestries, especially contemporary tapestry.
It calls itself the "most flowered city in Europe", and its displays of live and cut flowers are stunning. The city's Jardin des Plantes d'Angers and Jardin botanique de la Faculté de Pharmacie d'Angers are a historic botanical gardens, and its Arboretum Gaston Allard is a major arboretum. It is also well-known for being the seat of important cultural events, such as the film festival Premiers Plans, Tour de Scènes (free concerts in the streets) and Les Accroche-Coeurs (free street festival).
Sport
Angers has many sport teams playing at top level:
- Angers SCO is Angers' football team. The club was created in 1919. In 2007, Angers SCO is playing in the Ligue 2 (second division) league.
- Les Ducs d'Angers is Angers' ice hockey team. The club is playing in the Magnus League (first division).
- Anjou BC is Angers' basketball team, playing in second division.
Colleges and universities
A centre of learning, Angers boasts two renowned universities and several specialized institutions, altogether responsible for more than 40,000 students. The city is host of L'Université Catholique de l'Ouest (UCO), one of five Catholic universities in France and a state university Université d'Angers .
Angers' other educational institutions include lycées; training colleges, an engineering school in manufacturing (ENSAM), and a school of fine art. Its education and research institutes are the driving force behind the city's science and technology industries.
Angers' Business School is ESSCA (Ecole Superieure des Sciences Commerciales d'Angers). Formerly part of the UCO, the school's program is of a duration of five years. ESSCA is one of the best business schools in France, recruiting students after the Baccalaureat.
Miscellaneous
Births
The city is the birthplace of:
- René I of Naples (1409-1480)
- Jean Bodin (1529-1596), philosopher and jurist, author of Six Livres de la République
- Michel Eugène Chevreul, (1786-1889), chemist
- Joseph Louis Proust, (1754 - 1826), chemist responsible for "Proust's law"
- Pierre-Jean David d'Angers, (1788 - 1856), sculptor
- Prosper Ménière (1799-1862), physician
- Édouard Cointreau, (1849 - 1923), creator of the "Cointreau" orange-flavoured liquor
- René Bazin (1853 - 1932), writer and educator
- Fernand Charron (1866 - 1921), one of the first cars constructors (Octave Mirbeau dedicated to Charron La 628-E8, 1907).
- André Bazin (1918-1958), critic of the French New Wave
- Hervé Bazin (1911-1996), writer
- Henri Dutilleux (born 1916), composer
- Paul Poupard (born 1930), Roman Catholic cardinal
- Jacques Loussier (born 1934), composer and jazz pianist
- Bernard Ribalet (born 1949), electrophysiologist
- Francis Le Jau, (1665-1717), Anglican missionary to West Indies and South Carolina, worked for the humane treatment of slaves.
Twin towns
Angers is twinned with:
External links
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