The best museums Châteaux de la Loire

The ideal place for history lovers. Pedagogical, playful, inspired, inspiring, this museum is a reference: people come from all over France and even from farther. First of all, there is the building, dating from the 12th century, which already deserves its afternoon. All the rooms are served by an impeccable museography. From the flint of Pressigny to the bronze of more recent extraction (thousand years before our era), a journey in time. Animations for adults and children all year round, with for example a laboratory of scientific manipulations.

A glass roof in place of the collapsed roof of an old church is an original idea to highlight the works of a sculptor from Angers, whose most famous works are far from his native town. You will see some preparatory drawings, statues, busts and medallions because, as you may have guessed, this was the speciality of David, known as d'Angers (not to be confused with the painter Jacques-Louis David, with whom he also trained). Most people know this artist thanks to the many streets that bear his name, but we often ignore his art. The sculptures of David d'Angers, which were generally commissioned, are to be found in the Espace Européen Gutenberg in Strasbourg as well as on the pediment of the Panthéon and in Père-Lachaise. In the former Toussaint abbey church, the plaster moulds of his works are on display, which he sent en masse to the Beaux-Arts of Angers in order to thank the city for having granted him a scholarship to study in Paris and then in Italy. The busts made by the sculptor are arranged on a mezzanine from which one can admire both the works as a whole and the elegance of the place, which would certainly have pleased this artist who himself nourished the architectural heritage by contributing to the Concorde bridge in Paris. This museum is out of the ordinary while reflecting a certain classicism, in the image of the artist that David d'Angers was, singular and yet admired by the Academy.

Located a few meters from the banks of the Maine River, this museum is composed of two very distinct places. On the one hand, the Saint-Jean Hospital, in its magnificent 12th century room, houses Le Chant du monde, a masterpiece by Jean Lurçat. These ten panels, 80 metres long, are inspired by the famous tapestry of the Apocalypse by John of Bruges. The part known as the former orphanage dates from the 17th century and houses some sixty works exhibited chronologically, mixing temporary works and the museum's own collection (Jean Lurçat, Josep Grau-Garriga and Thomas Gleb).

Founded in 1801, the Beaux-Arts are housed in several buildings in the historic centre, including a magnificent 15th-century town house, the Logis Barrault, in the flamboyant Gothic style. Covering 3,000 m², the museum has two sections: one devoted to sculpture and painting (particularly primitive and classical), the other to the history of Angers (objects from archaeological excavations). It also includes a graphic arts room and a garden decorated with statues which, in the 20th century, replaced the orchard where the famous Doyenné du Comice pear was invented.