Our visit to Chateau d'Angers marked the beginning of our time in the Loire Valley and the first of many chateaus. The imposing medieval fortress sits on a rocky promontory overlooking the Maine River in the city of Angers. Originally, the Chateau d'Angers was built as a fortress at a site inhabited by the Romans, because of its strategic defensive location. In the 9th century, the Bishop of Angers gave permission to the Counts of Anjou to expand it into a castle. In 1562, Catherine de'Medici directed efforts to strengthen the medieval fortress as a military stronghold against rebelling Huguenots. Her son, Henry III, later reduced the height of the towers and had the towers and walls stripped of their embattlements, using the caste stones to build streets and develop the village of Angers. He did, however, maintain the castle's defense capabilities by making it a military outpost and by installing artillery on the upper terraces of the chateau. The chateau was used as an armory through WWI and WWII, although it was severely damaged during WWII when a Nazi ammunition storage dump inside the castle exploded. In its long history, the castle was has never been taken by an invading force.
Today, the Chateau d'Angers is a museum that houses the oldest and largest collection of medieval tapestries in the world, including the Apocalypse Tapestry, a magnificent piece of art that is 103 meters long and 4 1/2 meters high. The tapestry was woven in Paris between 1377 and 1382 and depicts the story of Apocalypse from the Book of Revelation. Although there were originally 90 scenes, only 71 remain. We took an audio tour of the tapestry, which described each panel in detail. We were able to get very close and see the incredible detail in each of the panels. Each and every one of us enjoyed our visit to the Chateau d'Angers.
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