Angers - Sights, History, Economy, Transportation, Culture, Sports, Colleges and universities, Miscellaneous
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Commune of Angers The Château d'Angers overlooks Angers and the Maine River |
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| Location | |
| Coordinates | 47°28′25″N, 00°33′15″E |
| Administration | |
|---|---|
| Country | France |
| Région | Pays de la Loire |
| Département | Maine-et-Loire (préfecture) |
| Arrondissement | Angers |
| Canton | Chief town of 8 cantons |
| Intercommunality |
Communauté d'agglomération d'Angers Loire Metropole |
| Mayor |
Jean-Claude Antonini (2001-2008) |
| Statistics | |
| Altitude |
12 m–64 m (avg. 20 m) |
| Land area¹ | 42.70 km² |
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Population² (1999) |
151,279 |
| - Density (1999) | 3,543/km² |
| Miscellaneous | |
| INSEE/Postal code | 49007/ 49000 |
| ¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > | |
| ² Population sans doubles comptes: single count of residents of multiple communes (e.g. | |
Angers is a city in France in the département of Maine-et-Loire, 191 miles south-west of Paris. (The area surrounding Angers is more popularly known by its pre-revolutionary, provincial name, Anjou.)
Angers is an urban city housing 150,000 people in the city and close to 270,000 for the metropolitan area.
Sights
The site of a massive and ancient château, the city is also noted for the impressive twin spires of the twelfth century Cathedral of Saint-Maurice. [Eglise St. Aubin:
Ruins of the old churches of Toussaint (thirteenth century) and Notre-Dame du Ronceray (eleventh century) are also nearby.
The Hôtel de Pincé or d'Anjou (1523-1530) is the finest of the stone mansions of Angers.
History
The first sign of human presence on the site of Angers is a stone tool dated back to 400,000 BC (Lower Paleolithic).
The city suffered severely from the invasions of the Normans (in 845 and succeeding years)
Angers was once the capital of the historic province of Anjou.
Economy
The early prosperity of the town is largely due to the nearby quarries of slate, whose abundant use for the roofs of Angers led to the city's nickname, the "Black City" (or la ville noire in French).
Transportation
Road: Motorway A11 to Paris ~295 Km and to Nantes ~90 Km Railway: TGV from Angers-St Laud station to Paris 1h35 Airport: Angers-MarcéCulture
Angers calls itself the "most flowered city in Europe", and its displays of live and cut flowers are stunning indeed.
It has an orchestra ONPL shared with Nantes, a local theatre NTA (Nouveau Théatre d'Angers) and a dance school CNDC (Centre National de Danse Contemporaine).
Sports
Angers has many sports teams playing at top level:
Angers SCO is Angers' football team.Colleges and universities
A centre of learning, Angers boasts two renowned universities and several specialized institutions, altogether responsible for more than 40,000 students.
UCO houses le Centre International Des Études Françaises,(CIDEF) a center of French language instruction for foreign students.
Miscellaneous
Births
The city is the birthplace of:
René I of Naples (1409-1480) Jean Bodin (1529-1596), philosopher and jurist, author of Six Livres de la République Michel Eugène Chevreul, (1786-1889), chemist Joseph Louis Proust, (1754 - 1826), chemist responsible for "Proust's law" David d'Angers, (1788 - 1856), sculptor Prosper Meniere (1799-1862), physician Edouard Cointreau, (1849 - 1923), creator of the "Cointreau" orange-flavoured liquor René Bazin (1853 - 1932), writer and educator André Bazin (1918-1958), critic of the French New Wave Hervé Bazin (1911-1996), writer Henri Dutilleux (born 1916), composer Jacques Loussier (born 1934), composer and jazz pianist Francis Le Jau, (1665-1717), Anglican missionary to West Indies and South Carolina, worked for the humane treatment of slaves.Twin towns
Angers is twinned with:
Haarlem, Netherlands, since 1964 Osnabrück, Germany, since 1964 Bamako, capital of Mali, since 1974 Pisa, Italy, since 1982 Wigan, England, since 1988 Seville, Spain Södertälje, Sweden
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