Photo : DXR / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Le château d'Angers
The Château d'Angers, or Château des ducs d'Anjou, overlooks the Maine in the heart of the town. The site has been occupied since Antiquity, then the counts of Anjou built their residences there. The imposing present fortress was raised by Louis IX (Saint Louis) between 1230 and 1242: its enclosure, more than 800 metres long, is punctuated by seventeen round towers.
In the fifteenth century, the dukes of Anjou made it a prestigious residence; René of Anjou was born there in 1409. In 1585, Henry III ordered its partial dismantling, and only the upper parts of the towers were taken down. The building then served as a prison, barracks and munitions depot. The castle houses the Apocalypse Tapestry, the largest known ensemble of medieval tapestries, presented in a dedicated gallery since 1954. The former moats have been laid out as gardens. A historic monument since 1875, it is managed by the Centre des monuments nationaux.
