Laval

Built on both banks of the Mayenne, crossed by several stone bridges, Laval has kept in its Old Castle an 11th-century Romanesque keep, one of the oldest examples of this type of military architecture in France, now part of the naive art museum that occupies the site.

The tree-lined quays and old bridges offer picturesque views of the slate roofs of the historic centre, while the Vieux Laval quarter, with its half-timbered houses and narrow lanes, recalls the town's rich commercial past, built on the linen trade. The birthplace of the painter Henri Rousseau, known as 'Le Douanier', Laval combines preserved medieval heritage with the energy of a human-scale regional prefecture.

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