Angers: the Angevin castle on the Loire
At the gateway to the Loire Valley, Angers houses in its castle the largest medieval tapestry ever created in Europe.
The center, dominated by the Angevin castle, is comfortably explored on foot along the Loire.
The Castle of Angers, a fortress with seventeen towers built in the thirteenth century, houses the Apocalypse Tapestry, a textile masterpiece over one hundred meters long.
Just nearby, the Cathedral of Saint-Maurice, in Angevin Gothic style, features polychrome stained glass from the twelfth century among France's oldest.
Continuing along the Maine, you walk in the Doutre district, with medieval half-timber houses and the ancient Saint-Jean hospital, today a museum of contemporary tapestries.
As evening falls, the gardens around the castle, overlooking the river, offer a peaceful walk before dinner.
The Apocalypse Tapestry, commissioned in the fourteenth century by Duke Louis I of Anjou, remains Europe's largest surviving medieval tapestry cycle, featuring over one hundred scenes from Saint John's Apocalypse woven in wool and silk.
Angers gave its name to the Angevin dynasty, which from the city's castle extended its influence to the Kingdom of Naples, the County of Provence, and even the English throne in the Middle Ages, a rare dynastic expansion for a provincial city.
Guided tours and experiences in Angers
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