I drive you down to a wonderful region of my belle France and its wonders. This time let’s travel to the south the old Aquitaine, now Nouvelle Aquitaine and visit in the Lot et Garonne dept 47, and wonderful Agen. Once again, looking in my vault found me some older paper pictures,and combining other post pictures from my cd rom vault to do just this post for you and me. Sorry, the paper pictures are old and blurry but the memories stayed. Therefore, here is my take on curiosities of Agen !!! Hope you enjoy it as I
Agen is a town of thousands years old on the hills of the Ermitage that was the original site of the gallois town of Nitiobroges and a history connected always to the Garonne river. The town today is about 140 km from Bordeaux and 115 km from Toulouse. It is 611 km from my house,
The museum of fine arts or beaux-arts founded in 1876 is house in four wonderful mansions of the Renaissance style open to interior courtyards. Installed in the heart of the historic district of Agen, the Museum of Fine Arts is one of the most important museums in the Southwest by its richness and diversity. He is renowned for his masterpieces of Goya (including the self -portrait), his Venus du Mas (Roman period), his tintoret (Venetian Renaissance), discovered during the inventory of collections in 1997 and his impressionist canvases (Sisley , Corot…). The museum is installed on five levels in four mansions of the 16-17C which reveal their architectural wealth during the visit: Renaissance screw staircase, interior courses, fireplaces, period furniture … More than 3,000 objects y are permanently exposed in 26 rooms, like a rich cabinet of curiosity.
The Hôtel de Ville of Agen is the former presidal. It is located on Place du Docteur Esquirol, between rue Chaudordy and rue de Cessac. On the site of the current City/town hall was the Château de Monrevel, one of the two castles which defended Agen, outside the first enclosure, The city hall was first close to the palace of the ‘Bishop and Saint-Etienne Cathedral, near the ramparts, probably where the rue de la Grande-Horloge joins rue des Cornières. The cadastre of 1566 indicates that the city hall was then inserted between the house of Lucas de Barilhart, bookseller, and the house of estrades. The common house is located west of the Hôtel d’Estrades. In 1790, a plan was made for the installation of departmental administrations in the house of the king, In 1808, a decree of Napoleon I decided that the city of Agen has the property of the totality of the city hall after the setting of the new courthouse, in 1869, the City hall left the Hôtel d’Estrades and will occupy the former presidal. The council room is then decorated with a bust and ten portraits at the foot of illustrious men from Lot-et-Garonne,
The Episcopal Palace of Agen, today the prefecture of the department of Lot-et-Garonne, is located around the Place de Verdun, rue Étienne-Dolet, and rue Maréchal-de-Latre-de-Tassigny. The foundation stone was laid on June 19, 1775. The bishop was unable to occupy the new bishopric until 1783 , This building changed during the French revolution to become the seat of central schools, then of the fourth cohort of the Legion of honor and, in 1809, the Hotel of the Prefecture of Lot-et-Garonne as of today.
There is also, of course, a train station at Agen that is served by the TGV ,Intercités trains as well as the TER Nouvelle Aquitaine and Occitanie. Just for info never use it,
The Tour du Chapelet is near the Saint Caprais Cathedral and is the last remains of the second wall of Agen built in the 13C and the tower added to the convent of Chapelet in the 16C to serve as belltower. The convent was demolished during the French revolution and the tower served as a prison from 1815.
The wonderful walkpath or passarelle of Agen is a suspended bridge built in the 19C to cross the Garonne river on foot linking the town of Passage with Agen. When the Stone Bridge was delivered to the public, the ferry established in front of the village of Passage was removed. The inhabitants found the way too long to the new bridge. They protested and agreed with the mariners to cross the river clandestinely. In 1829, to put an end to this state of affairs, a small ferry was established opposite the Passage and used by pedestrians only, thus allowing residents to cross the Garonne. But it was quickly realized that crossing the ferry was still a waste of time. On January 10, 1838, after much discussion, the king approved the project to build a footbridge. Indeed, the Passerelle or Footbridge was delivered to the public on October 11, 1841. The slender footbridge linking the town of Passage to that of Agen.
A bit of history I like tell us that the city of Agen went thru a lot of invasions even if little documentation has been saved we know of invasions by the Vandals, Visigoths, Francs, and later the Vikings in the 11C. The historians tell us that in the 12C , it had a certain autonomy with a costume, of liberties and taxes, more so in the 13C with a chapter dated 1248 under the protection of the King or Count, and the Bishop. The immigration was strong here and the Italian family La Rovère, related to Pope Julius II were very good writers like Mateo Bandello, and one of these novels written probably at Bazens residents of the Bishops of Agen that inspired the Shakespearean play of Romeo and Juliet. Agen, a Catholic city and rival of Nérac, reformist was taken several time and looted by the Protestants troops during this period ; and kept for a time queen Marguerite de Valois aka Queen Margot. The French revolution and the industrial revolution following took a heavy toll on the city . It suffered again during WWI and WWII. You can see on the Place de la Préfecture a monument to the fallen done in bronce. In WWII , Agen was occupied from 1942 by the Nazis and took HQ at Toussaint for their general headquarters; even if Agen was a second line town where many wounded were care for especially at the buildings of the middle school or collège Chaumié , and the high school or Lycée Palissy.
The city of Agen on its heritage: https://www.agen.fr/mes-loisirs
The Agen tourist office on its heritage: https://www.destination-agen.com/nos-belles-pierres/
The Lot et Garonne dept 47 tourist office on Agen:
https://www.tourisme-lotetgaronne.com/agenais/
The official Musée des Beaux-Arts of Agen : https://www.musee-agen.fr/welcome-to-the-museum-of-fine-arts-of-agen
There you go folks,a brief but good me think presentation of a lovely historical town of France and not many tourist yet oh well read the story and you will be there too. Again, hope you enjoy this post on curiosities of Agen !!! as I
And remember, happy travels, good health and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 