Poitou-Charentes
Flamboyant Gothic style
The Angoulême museum, reopened in March 2008, is housed in the former Bishopric. Extended twice, though originally of the twelfth century (in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries), and the elegant facade Friedland Street is in the flamboyant Gothic style. The view of the ugly monkey that crowns the building is a curiosity. It is a sympathetic nod to the bishop who constructed this edifice, playing with his name (Saint-Gelais) which in French is pronounced "singe laid" (ugly monkey). The museum featuring a glass tower offers a unique and close view of the top of the cathedral of St-Pierre. The collections are divided into several major sections: Archaeology, Art Maghreb, Africa and Oceania, and Fine Arts.
Downstairs, the Archaeology and geology section reveals the 500,000 year history of Poitou-Charentes. Highlights include the Agris (fourth century BC), a masterpiece of Celtic jewelry. In the Magred art collection, Africa and Oceania are striking, high quality artistic and ethnographic pieces (masks, statues, jewels, musical instruments ...). One of the most complete collections in France, second only to the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris. Amongst the Fine Arts section, number various European painters, ranging from the sixteenth to the twentieth.
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