Angers

Maison d’Adam
I arrived in Angers in late morning so I had time to walk in the historic area before having lunch. I discovered a very charming square with a few trees, benches, and picturesque buildings around it. Facing the square was one of several half-timbered houses remaining in Angers. This one, perhaps the most famous, was the House of Adam which owes its name to the wooden statues of Adam and Eve on each side of the still extant "Tree of Life". With its many carved figures it stands as the most refined of Angers' wealthy dwelling-houses of the Gothic period, towards the year 1500. Because it is located on the corner of two major streets there are two facades.

Collegiate Church of Saint Martin
I walked some more and the first monument I saw in Angers was the Collegiate Church of Saint Martin. I loved its very simple Romanesque façade. During the 5th c a small church was built in the outskirts of Angers it was enlarged several times during the Merovingian period and became an important burial site where sarcophagi and slate coffins were laid. About a hundred of them were found when the church was excavated. In the 10th c. the nave, similar to the one seen today, was rebuilt. The transept and choir sit on the Merovingian remains which are visible today. The arches at the transept that once supported the bell tower are its most unusual feature as they were constructed of alternating brick and tufa.

Sometime later, the Count of Anjou, Foulques Nerra (987-1040) restored the church and installed a community of monks. When the choir was again enlarged in the second half of the 13th c, it was in Anjou gothic style. After the Revolution, the church became successively a storage depot and then a chapel. In 1986 the general council of Anjou restored the chapel, now used as a museum for sculpture and remains of objects found in the crypt and church during excavations and restoration. These include the slate coverings over sarcophagi showing their epitaphs, various statues, and Romanesque decorations. One of the most unusual artifacts is a fetus burial displayed on a slate lab dating from the 3rd Merovingian church (8-9th c). The mortality rate of infant deaths at this time; half of all children would have died before the age of five. Archaeological excavations demonstrate that their bodies were frequently buried at the foot of the side walls of the nave until recent times.

Cathedrale Saint Maurice
It is hard to imagine a more impressive approach to the Cathedral of St. Maurice, than the wide staircase, almost a ramp, leading up from the Maine River. The striking west facade is exceptionally narrow and tall. The lowest level dates from c about 1170, the twin towers (230 ft and 250 ft high) date from the 15th century; the central tower was added in the 16th century. At the base of the central tower are sculptures of St Maurice and his companions, with a prayer for peace above. The date carved at the end of the prayer is 1540.

When I entered the cathedral there was a guide speaking to visitors seated in the nave. I sat and listened and learned more about the church than I would have on my own. The interior is known for its ribbed vault which is so highly arched that it imitates a dome, so characteristic that it is known as an angevine vault. There is a single nave giving the cathedral an unusual simplicity, in contrast to the altar, pulpit, and organ. The stained glass windows range from the 12th to the 16th centuries; those in the choir date from the 13th century. They overlook a single tombstone, marking the resting place of the last Dukes of Anjou.

The cathedral walls were once covered with tapestries. The most celebrated among them are displayed in the chateau. I read that this area of the western Loire and the Maine River is particularly rich in tapestries. This may be because of the residences and visits of the Dukes of Brittany and the Kings of France who might have commissioned them or in whose honor they may have been presented; or they just may have been documents recording an important occasion. These are in various churches, museums, or other institutions and it is the responsibility of the Regional Council of Maine-et-Loire to assure the preservation and safety of the more than 300 tapestries in its inventory.

On my way back to the hotel I passed arches that led to a street (Rue d’Alsace). The pillars supporting the arches were painted with whimsical horses. I learned that Angers was the center of manufacture of merry-go-rounds from 1885-1965. Gustave Bayol was a sculptor who came to Angers and was asked to design horses for a merry-go-round. The enterprise he founded lasted until 1939 and employed hundreds of artists and furnished merry-go-round horses all over France. Some manufacture continued after the war until 1965.

Chateau d’Angers
Built over some Gallo-Roman town buildings, in turn standing on a Neolithic site, the château was occupied from the 9th century onwards by the Counts of Anjou. The chateau, overlooking the Maine River, is surrounded by a fortress constructed by Saint Louis about 1230. It dominates the city with 17 towers of blue schist with blond limestone bands. In the 14th & 15th centuries the Dukes of Anjou, Louis I, Louis II, and Rene, enlightened princes and art lovers, developed a brilliant court at the chateau; after that, the chateau was used as a prison until the 20th century. An art installation in the chateau tower evokes the experience of prisoners in the chateau, represented by a web of fine wire mesh enclosing a sculpture of a body and sculpted hands seeking to get out of the wire.

The exterior of the chateau is in contrast to the courtyard, where there are beautiful gardens and a “chatelet” or small chateau, actually the entrance to the seigneurial residence, separated from the semi-public areas such as the gardens. There are several different gardens including an herb garden, a vineyard, and a suspended garden on part of the ramparts. It is possible to walk along the ramparts from which the entire courtyard is visible. There is also a beautiful, formal garden planted in what was once the moat.

A special wing of the chateau houses an extraordinary treasure, the famous
tapestries of the Apocalypse, woven for Duke Louis I of Anjou beginning about 1375. The installation is enormous and impressive. The wool tapestries are about 15 feet high and 340 feet long; they took 7 years to complete – a very short time for the size, originally 500 feet long. (About 150 feet are missing.) The installation conserves the fragile tapestries under filtered, low illumination and underlines the richness of the colors and weaving techniques. Explanatory panels detail the scenes unfolding and the iconography in them.

Though the tapestries illustrate the text of St. John, their value today is in the treatment of the scenes which depict the events and misery of the Hundred Years War as it appeared to contemporary Angevine society. To see them is to be transported back in time.

On Saturday I took advantage of the sunny weather to leave Angers to see the Romanesque Abbey of Cunault, the Abbey of Fontevrault with the tombs of Henri II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, and the chateau of Saumur. These visits are described in a separate section.

La Tour Saint Aubin
Sunday was my last full day in Angers and I wanted to see the museum. I arrived just as it was about to close for lunch so I sat I n a nearby plaza. At one end of the rectangular area and facing me was the 12th century bell tower of the former abbey of Saint Aubin. It was the oldest abbey in Anjou founded around 534 by the Abbot Saint-Germain of Paris. As usual at the time, the bell tower was separated from the abbey itself. This is the only part of the abbey to survive. It could also serve as a fortress since the tower has windows for shooting arrows. If necessary, as it was in the 15th century, a watchman was appointed by the Duke of Anjou to look out from the top of the tower. The tower was chosen as a residence in 1744 and survived the Revolution. When troops approached to lay siege to Angers in 1793, they were seen by a watchman in time to allow the administration to install a flour mill on the ground floor so that the people would not starve. The tower was restored in 1904.

The museum
The museum of Angers was the residence of Olivier Barrault, a mayor of Angers beginning in 1498 and a treasurer of Louis XII. His residence was built between 1486 and 1493 in the flamboyant gothic style, with a courtyard and garden showing Renaissance influence. A staircase links the two wings of the residence and leads to an upper room, a sign of the owner’s importance. In 1673, the residence was enlarged and used as a seminary. The building was confiscated at the Revolution and became a school after that.

The museum opened in 1801, but minus its high roofs and windows and with two additional stories. Today, the museum houses the collection of the city of Angers. The varied objects are displayed in somewhat chronological order to tell the history of the city from almost every century since Roman occupation. There are fragments of sculpture and pottery, jewelry, metalwork, paintings including portraits, and ivory.

Le Logis Pincé,
This is a renaissance residence – more like a mini-château, built between 1530 and 1535 and renovated in neo-gothic style in 1899. It was used as a museum, but is now closed and undergoing restoration.