page_title: Angers
section_title: Museums
hierarchical_section_title: Angers / Culture / Museums
caption_attribution_description: view of the Tapestry of the Apocalypse in Angers, France
context_page_description: Angers is a city in western France, about 300 km southwest of Paris. It is chef-lieu of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the province are called Angevins. Not including the metropolitan area, Angers is the third most populous commune in northwestern France after Nantes and Rennes and the 18th in France.
  For centuries, Angers was an important stronghold in northwestern France. It was the cradle of the Plantagenet dynasty and became one of the intellectual centers of Europe during the reign of René of Anjou. Angers developed at the confluence of three rivers, the Mayenne, the Sarthe, and the Loir, all coming from the north and flowing south to the Loire. Their confluence, just north of Angers, creates the Maine, a short but wide river that flows into the Loire several kilometres south. The Angers metropolitan area is a major economic centre in western France, particularly active in industry, horticulture, and tourism.
  Angers proper covers 42.70 square kilometers and has a population of 152,960 inhabitants, while around 422,700 live in its metropolitan area.
context_section_description: The Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Angers, located in the Renaissance Logis Barrault, displays a collection of paintings and sculptures dating from the 14th century to today. It is particularly renowned for its 18th-century paintings, including works by Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Van Loo, Antoine Watteau, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, and Jean Siméon Chardin. The museum also contains a graphic design studio, a gallery devoted to the history of Angers and a temporary exhibition gallery. The institution has an annexe at the château in Villevêque, a village located several kilometers north of the city.
  Inside the castle, a special gallery displays the Apocalypse Tapestry, ordered by Louis I of Naples at the end of the 14th century. It is more than 140 meters (460 ft) long, the largest medieval tapestry in the world. Inspired by manuscript miniatures, the successive scenes, designed by Jean Bondol, illustrate the Apocalypse of St John.
  Located inside the old Hôpital Saint-Jean, the Musée Jean-Lurçat et de la tapisserie contemporaine displays tapestries dating from the 19th and 20th centuries. The museum is dedicated to Jean Lurçat, an artist noted for his role in the revival of contemporary tapestry, and notably exhibits his "Chant du Monde", a modern echo to the Apocalypse Tapestry made after the bombing of Hiroshima.
  The Muséum d'histoire naturelle d'Angers has been located in the 1521 Hôtel Demarie-Valentin since 1885. It exhibits a large collection of mounted animals and fossils, divided in three departments, one for zoology, one for botany and the last one for paleontology and geology.
  The Logis Pincé, constructed during the Renaissance, is the home of the museum of the same name. It displays Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Etruscan antiquities as well as Chinese and Japanese artifacts.
  Located in the Abbaye Toussaint, the Galerie David d'Angers gathers sculptures, reliefs, and medallions by David d'Angers, a 19th-century sculptor born in the city. The gallery also owns the preparatory works for the Panthéon of Paris pediment.
  Angers also enjoys a Maison de l'Architecture, which organizes various exhibitions and workshops, as well as several temporary exhibition galleries distributed in the city center. Outside the commune limits are also an aviation museum and a museum of communications.
caption: The Apocalypse Tapestry
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