Top Historic Sights in Angers, France
Explore the historic highlights of Angers
Cháteau de Angers
The Cháteau d'Angers is a castle founded in the 9th century by the Counts of Anjou. It was expanded to its current size in the 13th century. Originally, the castle was built as a fortress at one of the sites inhabited by the Romans because of its strategic defensive location. In the 9th century, the Bishop of Angers gave the Counts of Anjou permission to build a castle in Angers. It became part of the Angevin empire of t ...Maison d'Adam
Maison d'Adam, Adam's House, is the oldest house of Angers. The half-timbered building was built around the year 1500. The façade is beautifully decorated with wooden sculptures. Today the house is a home of artisans of Angers.Angers Cathedral
Angers Cathedral (Cathédrale Saint-Maurice d'Angers) was constructed in the 12th and 13th centuries on the orders of bishops Normand de Doué and Guillaume de Beaumont after the original building burnt down in 1032. The original Romanesque church was rebuilt with Gothic details in the mid 12th century. The single-aisle plan was vaulted with pointed arches resting on a re-clad interior elevation. The nave cons ...St. Martin's Church
The 9th-century church houses today a superb collection of religious statues dating from the 14th century.Galerie David d'Angers
The glassed-over ruins of the 13th century abbey church of Touissant are filled with plaster casts of the work of local scupltor Pierre-Jean David (1788-1856). His idealized busts and figures were much in demand as memorials for people such as the Marquis de Bonchamps.Abbey of Saint Aubin
Largely rebuilt in the 17th and 18th centuries, Saint Aubin’s old monastic buildings are now local government offices. On the left of the courtyard, you will see through the bay windows the cloister’s beautiful Romanesque gallery with its finely worked sculptures.Musée Jean Lurcát
The Gothic masterpiece was founded in 1175 by Henry II of England and it functioned as a hospital until 1875. A reconstruction of the dispensary occupies one corner of the Salle des Malades, and a chapel and 12th century cloisters can be reached through a door at the end of the gallery. Today the building houses the works of the 20th century artist Jean Lurcát and many of his vivid tapestries.Cointreau Museum
Cointreau’s history began in 1849 when Adolphe and Edouard-Jean Cointreau founded a distillery in Angers to create spirits using local fruits. This was the starting point of 150 years of success story build step by step by four generations of the Cointreau family. The Carré Cointreau, (the name of the distillery and museum) is open to the public for tours. While Cointreau is dedicated to keep their special r ...Ronceray Abbey
Situated on the northern side of the city, across the River Maine from the main old town area of the city, this delightful abbey is one of the most historic ecclesiastical buildings in the area and a fine example of Anjou architecture. The building has for many centuries served as a place of worship and religious observance. The structure has benefited from a series of overhauls in the last few hundred years, making it a ...Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings
Historic Site of the week
Lübeck Cathedral
Lübeck Cathedral is a large brick-built Lutheran cathedral in Lübeck, Germany and part of the Lübeck UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 1173 Henry the Lion founded the cathedral to serve the Diocese of Lübeck, after the transfer in 1160 of the bishop's seat from Oldenburg in Holstein under bishop Gerold. The then Romanesque cathedral was completed around 1230, but between 1266 and 1335 it was converted into a Gothic-style building with side-aisles raised to the same height as the main aisle.
On the night of Palm Sunday (28–29 March) 1942 a Royal Air Force bombing raid destroyed a fifth of the town centre. Several bombs fell in the area around the church, causing the eastern vault of the quire to collapse and destroying the altar which dated from 1696. A fire from the neighbouring cathedral museum spread to the truss of the cathedral, and around noon on Palm Sunday the towers collapsed. An Arp Schnitger organ was lost in the flames. Nevertheless, a relatively large portion of the internal fittings was saved, including the cross and almost all of the medieval polyptychs. In 1946 a further collapse, of the gable of the north transept, destroyed the vestibule almost completely.
Reconstruction of the cathedral took several decades, as greater priority was given to the rebuilding of the Marienkirche. Work was completed only in 1982.
The cathedral is unique in that at 105 m, it is shorter than the tallest church in the city. This is the consequence of a power struggle between the church and the guilds.
The 17 m crucifix is the work of the Lübeck artist Bernt Notke. It was commissioned by the bishop of Lübeck, Albert II. Krummendiek, and erected in 1477. The carvings which decorate the rood screen are also by Notke.
Since the war, the famous altar of Hans Memling has been in the medieval collection of the St. Annen Museum, but notable polyptychs remain in the cathedral.
In the funeral chapels of the southern aisle are Baroque-era memorials by the Flemish sculptor Thomas Quellinus.