The first Sunday of every month is free museum day in France, and my friend Trey invited me to explore the château with him. Because I love the place (this would be my 3rd time exploring it) and it was free and there were friends, I decided to venture forth.And a good thing, too. It was a gorgeous day, and I met two new friends! Hooray!
This is the mideval castle by the river I have been boasting about. It is only 20 minutes by foot from my house, and downtown is not even a stone's throw away... 30 seconds tops.
I don't think the pictures do the fortress justice, but it is immense and rather intimidating. Its foundations are a Roman fortress, chosen for its strategic defensive location and the massive amount of avaliable building material... and it worked. It has never been taken by an invading force in history, many invading armies simply giving it up.
I don't think the pictures do the fortress justice, but it is immense and rather intimidating. Its foundations are a Roman fortress, chosen for its strategic defensive location and the massive amount of avaliable building material... and it worked. It has never been taken by an invading force in history, many invading armies simply giving it up.
Here is a shot of the exterior of the château:
Yeah, it's quite formidable. That wall on the right is at least a 50 foot drop, so that should give you a concept of how huge this thing is. Its outer ramparts as they are were constructed in the 13th century when the powerful Phlip II conquered the area and was like, "my gradson deserves a castle all to himself".
It was later remodeled by Cathrine de Medici, then her son Henry III tore a lot of it down to construct the downtown area of Angers (those cobbled streets still exist!) while maintaining the protective nature of the fortress.
Since that time, it has been a military academy, prison, garrison, and Nazi munition storage dump. Now it is a beautiful place to hang out on a Sunday and houses the oldest and largest collection of mideval tapestries in the world.
This is where you enter:
That's right: those are people and chains. When the castle was used as a prison, they would sometimes cram up to 60 prisoners into that small space. This work is beautiful and haunting, truly capturing the spirit of the anguish that must have been felt within that room. There are 60 hands within the piece, and it is constructed of very thin metal wire, giving it that spiritual, ghostly quality. I adore this work of art and what it shares. The history of prisoners and their suffering are often forgotten by the world at large.
The experience is truly magnificent! Makes you feel like royalty, really.
Once inside, you buy a ticket (or they just hand you one), pick up brochures, and go through a really narrow old door into the courtyard of the château:
Topiaries and calm walkways abound! In the background is the chapel with all of the façades and sculptures descemated. They were removed before being used to house prisoners. No one wants to break up a fight where an angry prisoner is using the stone arm of a desciple as a weapon. Not many pictures were taken in there because it is depressing and empty, but the courtyard is super cool. Lots of gravel... ever notice that all the palace courtyards seem to have gravel no mater where you go? Trey says it's a very common, inexpensive material and that is the reason, but I disagree: with gravel, you can always hear an assassin coming.
There are pathways and gardens at the top of the batiments. You can traverse the circumference of the château that way. Honestly, that's my favorite but about the whole mideval castle experience. The tallest turet has an amazing view of Angers!
My side of the river Maine:
The other side of the river Maine that I have yet to explore, but is home to the oldest hospital in Europe and an amazing modern tapestry museum:
The castle grounds:
Pretty nifty, huh? The main tapestry on display is one commissioned by Louis I, who used to live in the castle. It's truly magnificent!!! Not only is the tapestry absolutely gargantuin, but the story of Revelations is desplayed in picture-perfect detail, with everything in either threes or sevens or twelves. The symbolism and accuracy within the Apocalypse Tapestry is a marvel in itself, never mind that it took over 20 years to make.
This wonder of the middle ages is not the only piece of artwork on desplay in the château. This lovely modern art piece is on desplay in a small room at the base of one of the turets:
That's right: those are people and chains. When the castle was used as a prison, they would sometimes cram up to 60 prisoners into that small space. This work is beautiful and haunting, truly capturing the spirit of the anguish that must have been felt within that room. There are 60 hands within the piece, and it is constructed of very thin metal wire, giving it that spiritual, ghostly quality. I adore this work of art and what it shares. The history of prisoners and their suffering are often forgotten by the world at large.
That's the castle by the river!!!
I know you wanna come visit me now... seriously, pictures don't do it justice.
Tomorrow... STRASBOURG!!!
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