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ANGERS

Angers is a town of approximately 250,000 inhabitants, very pleasant with its malls, its monuments and districts, and its old town centre. It is located on a slope overhanging Maine (which gathers together the rivers Mayenne, the Sarthe and Loir) at a few kilometers at the north of the Loire and at approximately 100 km at the west of Turns. Its geographical position made it one of the metropolises of the west of France in times past.

The city has a great historical past resulting from its situation as the capital of the County of Anjou. Indeed in the Middle Ages, the Counts of Anjou played a significant role not only in the affairs of France and England but also in the affairs of Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily.

In fifteenth century King Rene made Angers one of the intellectual centres of Europe, this continued in the sixteenth century with the Joachim, Poet of Bellay, the Lawyer Jean Bodin amongst others.


The Castle of Angers

The Castle of Angers was built in ten years, from 1230 to 1240. I

The interior of the castle houses the Vault Ste Genevieve built in the fifteenth century by Louis II of Anjou and his wife Yolande d' Aragon. Under Louis XIV the castle became a prison of state. The castle contains also the famous Tapestries of 1' Apocalypse carried out by Nicolas Bataille.


The Old Abbey of St Aubin

This was founded towards 535 by St German, Bishop of Paris and bears the name of the Bishop of Angers who strongly contributed to the evangelisation of the countryside around.