Angers Cathedral, Catholic cathedral in Angers, France
Angers Cathedral is a place of worship in Angers that blends Romanesque and Gothic architectural styles, featuring a Renaissance crown between two Gothic towers and a Baroque altar inside. The building demonstrates how different medieval building styles came together in one structure.
Construction started in the 11th century under Bishop Hubert de Vendôme, with later changes shaped by a fire in 1032 that had a major impact on how the building developed over time. The modifications made across the centuries show how the structure responded to this early damage.
The cathedral's stained glass includes late 12th-century panels combining grisaille with coloured glass, an early use of that technique, and two rose windows showing the Last Judgement and the Apocalypse. The 13th-century choir has tall blind arches topped by a narrow passageway with a wrought-iron railing.
The west front faces a parvis, and the 1806 demolition of the medieval porch left only four pointed arches as traces of it. Since April 2026 a concrete porch by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, costing €5.5 million, shelters the 13th-century polychrome sculptures of the portal. Inside, look up: the Angevin vaults are strongly domed, with the keystone set much higher than the arches.
The 13th-century sculptures on the west portal were cleaned between 2009 and 2019, revealing traces of original and 17th-century paint that grime had hidden. Look for the column statues of Saint René, Saint Maurille and Saint Maurice, and the Christ in majesty on the tympanum surrounded by the elders and angels of the Apocalypse.
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