Photo : Fab5669 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The Lactopôle, now called the Cité du Lait, is a private museum in Laval, in the Mayenne. It is run by the Lactalis company and located near its global headquarters.
Dedicated to André Besnier, the company's founder, it presents the history of dairy production through 2,500 objects. It opened in 1999 in a former factory of the Besnier group.
The museum reveals the private world of Robert Tatin, whose house, where some of his paintings hang, can be visited.
Listed as an archaeological site of national interest, the castle of Mayenne overlooks the river and gives the town its full stature.
At the entrance to the fortress, in the heart of Jublains, the département's archaeology museum opened in 1995 and was renovated in 2002.
The prefecture of the Mayenne, dominated by its medieval Old Castle and Romanesque keep, whose roofs are reflected in the calm river.
The Château de la Courbe, two kilometres south-east of the village, held the title of castellany with high, middle and low justice.
A listed 15th- and 16th-century château, linked to the Hundred Years' War, with Renaissance architecture and painted panels of 1625.