Photo : Abxbay / Wikimedia Commons (domaine public)
Angers
Situated on the banks of the Maine, Angers is the prefecture of Maine-et-Loire and the former capital of Anjou, cradle of the Plantagenet dynasty. In the fifteenth century, under King René of Anjou, it was among the great intellectual centres of Europe. Its heritage is built of dark schist and pale tuffeau, and the city carries the label Town of Art and History.
The castle of the dukes of Anjou, raised in the thirteenth century, houses the Apocalypse Tapestry, the largest known ensemble of medieval tapestries, inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World register. Not far away, in the old Cité district, stands the cathedral of Saint-Maurice. The city also has several museums and a university. In the nineteenth century, Angers became a reference for horticulture and plant research, a speciality that continues today with the Végépolys cluster.
