Journée de patrimoine

A few days a year France opens all its doors to the public for free. Museums, historical sights, governmental buildings, the president's house, all are open and free for the journée de patrimoine. So in Angers last Sunday I checked out some of the sights and was fascinated to learn about the Roman history still evident in the Préfecture building.

In what is now the basement, you can see walls and sarcophagus from different points in history. The red line in the wall is evidence of a fire. In the picture below you can see in the corpse of a young individual who was clearly someone important given the person's final resting place. It was so odd to think of all the government officials working up above everyday.

 

This is right above that ancient basement. The prefecture is a massive building that was continuously added onto throughout history.

 

Since it's not every day your average Joe can see important meeting spaces and offices of their government officials, people really seemed to be into it.

 

Here is a ballroom from another wing of the Préfecture from a more ostentatious era.

Next we went to the gallery of David d'Angers, a famous sculptor from Angers who lived from 1788-1856. It is a beautiful space in an old abbey in the center of town that houses his work both in original and duplicate.

 

From there we went to the abbey of the Ronceray and the Church of the Trinity both seen below.

These are dorms today as the abbey has turned into a college.

 

A picture from the basement of the Church the Trinity.

Our last stop was the l'hotel des Penitentes, which includes many fine examples of constructions from 1490-1580. It was a lot of history for one Sunday but a nice and educational day, too.

 

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