THE MORNING LIST
Stroll along the banks of the canal bridge, stroll through the Museum of Fine Arts or rush into a medieval quarter… beyond its legendary prune, Agen has a lot to offer. The proof by five.
Sail on water and in the air
It is the most popular walk in the Agenais. Standing on the Garonne, the canal bridge extends its 23 arches over 580 meters in length. Seen from below, it is imposing but classic. It is by climbing on it that we discover a waterway, a canal planned to go to Bordeaux. It took four years (from 1839 to 1843) to build it. Put into service in 1856, it was quickly rendered obsolete by competition from trains. Today, runners and cyclists (who should theoretically dismount, because the path is narrow, but do not) pass each other on its edges, and boats go up it. If commercial barges have become rare, small pleasure craft cross paths there in the summer. In summer, electric boats allow you to navigate there without risk, offering the rare sensation of being both on the water and above the water. From up there you can see the hillsides of the hermitage and the bell towers of the city’s high churches. Flagship stage of the “greenway”, a cycle path that goes from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, the canal bridge unrolls at its feet a vast green space which hosts the Café Vélo, a place which serves both as a restaurant bio, bike shop and shelter.
Discover the inventor of color photography
The exterior is already worth seeing. The building of the Museum of Fine Arts is the result of the combination of four Renaissance mansions: Estrades, Vaurs, Vergès and Monluc. On its own, it deserves a look, especially the charming little Renaissance courtyard of the Hôtel de Vaurs. Inside, the route changes both in time and in the objects on display. Prehistoric room, beautiful set of earthenware including a very rare tray signed Bernard Palissy, originally from Saint-Avit, in the north of Lot-et-Garonne, and who came to train in Agen with his potter father, famous paintings, in particular a self-portrait by Goya and the impressionists: Sisley, Corot and Courbet… The star is a Tintoretto, Renaud and Armidewhose incredible rediscovery and restoration are an adventure in themselves, explained with supporting photos on panels next to the painting.
A room currently being fitted out will pay homage to the inventor of color photography, Louis Ducos du Hauron, who stayed there very often and died in 1920 in Agen, where his family lived. It was here that he took the first color photograph of a landscape, a view of Agen taken from the hillside of the Hermitage. The museum is at the heart of a district which also lines up other beautiful buildings: the town hall, with a room of the Illustrious which houses some beautiful portraits including that of Bernard Palissy, and the Ducourneau Theater, named after the patron who allowed it to be built and demanded three things: that his memory be maintained, that was the very least, that a theater be built and, more surprising at the time, that a place dedicated to early childhood be built Also. This is how Agen had its first nativity scene.
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