Angoulême Things to Do

a wonderful museum next to the cathedral St Pierre.

Accessible by a garden in the sunny apse of the Cathedral, this free Museum offers collections ranging from the geology of the Charente (sites to dinosaurs of Cherves and Angeac-Charente) in fine arts through archaeology (collections discovered in Angoumois) and non-European arts.

The Museum of Angoulême maintains one of the largest collections of arts of Africa and Oceania in France. You can enjoy on the third floor a selection of paintings, sculptures, ceramics and weapons 16C to the beginning of the 20C, and productions of the charentais artists ' studios.

Access to the rooms is free for all. The public service is at the disposal of visitors, groups and individual. To enhance your visit,it offers different animations (visits, workshops, conferences, etc.) and aid to the visit (audio-guides french - English for adults and children, golf games for the youngest, old factory terminals...).

nice for the whole family with more time. The official museum page here in English
http://musee-angouleme.fr/practical-information/

One of the best looking Cathedral in the region, the Cathédrale Saint Pierre d'Angoulême. Passing by on my way to cognac ::)

Cathedral Saint-Pierre Angoulême has the particularity of having a romance and not Gothic Cathedral like so many other cities.

This Cathedral was built in 40 years at the beginning of the 12C under the leadership of Bishop Girard II. The achievement was so important that it was not necessary to rebuild a larger building in the Gothic period. The profusely carved facade is the cornerstone of the building. Several themes are depicted; in the lower part: Evangelism (the twelve represented the book in hand); in the high parts: the Ascension of Christ and his return at the end of the time. To the right of the portal, to spot a hunting scene and a carved frieze representing the capture of Zaragoza by a cavalry combat inspired by the song of Roland. Inside, the large nave is covered with three domes characteristic of Romanesque architecture in the southwest of France. Original furniture has disappeared, and was replaced in the 19C; only the organ from the 18C have been preserved. The choir received in 1999 a contemporary buffet, designed by Pierre Sabatier.

The Cathedral in the 16C. The silhouette of the building was formerly other: each arm of the transept was topped with an imposing Tower. The South Tower which can be seen even in this detail from the map by Belleforest was destroyed in 1568 by the canons of the Protestant troops during the wars of Religion.

The Cathedral in the 19C. In the middle of the 19C wanting to give back to the monument ts "original" Romanesque character. Abadie, the architect gave it a Romano-Byzantine dome which covers the transept crossing is one of his creations and can also be seen at Saint-Front de Périgueux and the Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre in Paris of which he was also the architect.

The cathedral today. The monument is composed of a single nave, a transept and a semicircular apse with apsidioles.

The museum in Angouleme (CNBDI) is about the 9th Art: comics. So it's fun to go and learn about all your childhood heroes, but there are some good comic books for adults too! You should then come along in January as the whole town will be celebrating the International Festival of the Comics. Lot's of animations!

nothing super inside, but outside it s very pleasant and the architecture is super
the first thing to be done before examining the facade is to ignore all superstructures including the gable and bell turrets which were added by Abadie. It s not possible to tell exactly how the facade was finished off especially as the upper parts were altered during the XVIth century
originally the skeleton on the facade appears to have consisted of hight arcades flanking the portal
Under the inspiration of Bishop Girad yhe austerity was banished and he introduced a whole iconographical programme. The tympanum together with the scultures of St Georges and St Martin at the base of the facade are modern.At first sight the iconography appears rather complex since the theme of the Ascencion is linked with that of the Last Judgement. We can only interpret the ideas of the artist by seeing in the history of human destiny as revealed to us in the Holy Scripture.
..../....

the drawer is Yslaire
"memoire du XX siecle"
Angouleme is famous for his international festival of "bande dessinee"

that photo was taken in the center of the town, where there are a lot of restaurant.
there's a special atmosphear when the night comes :)

Well, you could stop by and see 'the Kennedy'. Drinks are more expensive here than on average - if I were still working there, I'd knock a few cents of the price for you.