Angers
|
|
Template:FRdot Angers is a city in France in the département of Maine-et-Loire, 191 miles south-west of Paris.
Angers is an industrialized city housing 150,000 people in the city proper, and close to 250,000 within the metropolitan area. The city traces its roots to early Roman times. It occupies the slopes on both banks of the Maine, which is spanned by three bridges. The district along the river is famous for its flourishing nurseries and market gardens. With its wide, straight streets, gracious public gardens, and ample, tree-lined boulevards, Angers is one of the more pleasant towns in France. It is well known for its fresh produce and cut flowers.
| Contents |
Sights
The site of a massive and ancient Chateau, 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.
The famous abbey of St. Aubin has a courtyard with elaborately sculptured arcades of the 11th and 12th centuries. The tower there is also splendid.
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 an archaeological museum. The Logis Barrault, a mansion built about 1500, houses the public library and the municipal museum, which has a large collection of paintings and sculptures. The mansion also contains the collection of Musée David, consisting of works by the sculptor David d'Angers, who was a native of the town. One of his masterpieces, a bronze statue of René of Anjou, stands outside.
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 15th and 16th 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 3rd century, a prefecture, a court of appeal and a court of assizes. 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.
History
Angers_-_Maison_d'Adam-2003.jpg
The first sign of human presence on the site of Angers is a stone tool dated back to 400,000 B.C (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.
Angers was once the capital of the historic province of Anjou. Beginning in the 9th century, the region was controlled by a powerful family of feudal lords. In the 12th century, it became part of the Angevin empire of the Plantagenet 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 city suffered severely from the invasions of the Northmen in 845 and succeeding years, and the coming of the English in the 12th and 15th centuries. The Huguenots took it in 1585, and the Vendean royalists were repulsed nearby in 1793. Till the Revolution, Angers was the seat of a celebrated university founded in the 14th century.
Economy
The prosperity of the town is largely due to the great slate-quarries of the vicinity. Other industries include the distillation of liqueurs from fruit; 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, are hemp, early vegetables, fruit, flowers and live-stock.
Colleges and universities
A centre of learning, Angers boasts two renowned universities and several high schools, together responsible for more than 30,000 students. One of four remaining Catholic universities in France, L'Université Catholique de l'Ouest, is here. Also, UCO calls Angers home and houses le Centre International Des Études Françaises.
Along with students from all over the world, Americans from the Universities of Notre Dame, Oregon, Clemson, and Kansas come to Angers to spend time in the CIDEF program, immersed in French language and culture. The program provides immersion courses for foreign students. Courses including literature, politics, theology, philosophy, and grammar (and an unofficial slang course!) are all taught in French. Angers is considered an excellent location to learn French because the Angevin accent is said to retain the regal and aristocratic flavor of the royals who holidayed in the Loire Valley for centuries, and is said to be easily understood throughout the francophone world.
Angers' other educational institutions include seminaries, a lycée; a preparatory school of medicine and pharmacy; a university with faculties of theology, law, letters, and science; a higher school of agriculture, training colleges, a school of arts and handicrafts, and a school of fine art. Its education and research institutes are the driving force behind the city's science and technology industries.
Culture
Angers calls itself the "most flowered city in Europe," and its cut and its displays of live and cut flowers are stunning indeed. It is also well-known for being the seat of important cultural events, like the film festival Premiers Plans, Tour de Scènes (free concerts in the streets) and Les Accroche-Coeurs.
Births
The city is the birthplace of:
- Rene I of Naples (1409-1480)
- Jean Bodin (1529-1596), philosopher and jurist, author of "La République"
- Michel Eugène Chevreul, (1786-1889), chemist
- Georges Louis Leclerc, (1707 - 1788), naturalist author
- Joseph Louis Proust, (1754 - 1826), chemist responsible for "Proust's law"
- David d'Angers, (1788 - 1856), sculptor
- Edouard Cointreau, (1849 - 1923), creator of the "Cointreau" orange-flavoured liquor
- René François Nicolas Bazin (1853 - 1932), writer and educator
- André Bazin (1918-1958), critic of the French New Wave
- Henri Dutilleux (born 1916), composer
- Jacques Loussier (born 1934), composer and jazz pianist
External links
- Official Angers website (http://www.angers.fr/)
- Université d'Angers (http://www.univ-angers.fr/)
- Université Catholique de l'Ouest (http://www.uco.fr/)
- English-language library in Angers (http://perso.wanadoo.fr/amerlibangers/main_us.htm)
- CIDEF (http://www.uco.fr/refonte2002/instituts/cidef/)
- Visiting Angers (with map) (http://france-for-visitors.com/loire/angers/index.html) - in Englishbg:Анже
de:Angers eo:Anĝero fr:Angers ja:アンジェ pl:Angers ro:Angers sv:Angers