Angoulême (pop. 43,171), once capital of the Angoumois and now chief town of the département of Charente and the see of a bishop, is beautifully situated on a hill above the Charente. Originally a Roman settlement (Encolisma), it suffered severely from fighting and plundering during the wars of religion. It was the birthplace (1492) of Marguerite de Valois, queen of Navarre.
Angoulême's finest building is the Cathedral of St-Pierre (1105-1128, restored about 1650, altered by Abadie around 1875), which, like St-Front in Périgueux and Notre-Dame in Poitiers, shows a mingling of Romanesque and Byzantine styles. The west front has rich sculptural decoration, with more than 70 figures in representations of the Ascension and the Last Judgment. The cruciform interior has four domes.
The Musée des Beaux-Arts in Angoulême, housed in the former Bishop's Palace, has collections of prehistoric, Romanesque and overseas art. The Archeological Museum displays finds from the surrounding area.
Address: Musée des Beaux-Arts, 1 rue de Friedland, F-16000 Angouleme, France
A walk (or a drive) around the old walls of Angoulême with their towers offers fine views of the surrounding countryside. The town preserves a number of 17th and 18th century aristocratic mansions.
In the Place de l'Hôtel-de-Ville, in the center of the town, is the imposing Hôtel de Ville (Town Hall), built in 1858-1866 on the site of a castle of the Dukes of Angoulême, from which there survive the Tour Polygone (13th C.) and the Tour de Valois (15th C.). North of the Town Hall by way of Rue de la Cloche-Verte, passing the Hôtel St-Simon (1535-1540), is the Gothic church of St-André, which has fine stalls of 1692.
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