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Museums of Angers, Loire, France | |
| Angers has a variety of museums, from fine arts to tapestry to sculpture to science. | ||
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The museums of Angers have come together to form an ensemble of museums with a variety of offerings. Together they offer over 50,000 works of art and 450,000 artifacts. Most are located in the center of the city, though a few are farther out. Here are descriptions of the major sites. Musée des Beaux-ArtsThe main fine arts museum collections of Angers are preserved in several buildings of different eras assembled around a historic courtyard. The Logis Barrault (1493), a medieval banker's mansion that sheltered kings and princes as guests and was later used as a theological seminary, now holds the museum's fine collection of works, especially paintings by English, French, German and Italian artists dating from the 1300s to 2000s. The museum has two main permanent exhibits: fine arts; and the history of Angers, from prehistoric times to today. David d'Angers GalleryPierre Jean David (1788 - 1856), later known as David d'Angers, was a sculptor whose works grace many French public monuments including Paris's Panthéon. His home town of Angers proudly presents his works in the once-ruined but now renovated former Toussaint abbey church. The building itself is marvellous, and its glass ceiling allows wonderful light on David's sculptures. The collection includes copies or molds of his works, which range from monumental statues to busts of famous people (Victor Hugo, Goethe, and George Washington, to name just a few), and smaller medallions. He also has works in the Louvre in Paris, and in the Père Lachaise Cemetery.
Musée PincéThe Hôtel de Pincé, located in the center of Angers and dating from 1535, was built for Jean de Pincé, a mayor of Angers. Today it houses the collections assembled by artist Lancelot-Théodore Turpin de Crissé, as well as other acquisitions made since his time. In 1915 it received the St-Genys bequest of Japanese wood block carvings. Since 1975, the museum collection has included ancient Greek and Roman vases, Pharaonic Egyptian works, and fine objects from China and Japan. It reopened in 2020 after extensive renovations to improve its public access. Musée Jean-LurçatThe 12th-century Hôpital Saint-Jean and its former 17th-century orphanage hold Le Chant du Monde, the monumental modern tapestry by Jean Lurçat. Completed in 1966, is was inspired by the historic Apocalypse Tapestry that is housed in the Château d'Angers. The Musée Jean-Lurçat also displays other modern tapestries created from the 1930s to today. The Musées d'Angers also include the Museum of Natural Sciences, with locations both in the city center and in the nearby Gaston-Allard Arboretum; and the Musée-Château de Villevêcque. A castle dating from the 12th century, later converted to a luxury mansion, it holds art from the Middle Ages and the Renaissaince collected by Daniel Duclaux and Marie Dickson-Duclaux.
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Above, The Musée Pincé and its gardens.
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