ANGOULEME

No tour of Angoulême would be complete without a visit to the Musée de la Bande Dessinée, opened in June 2009 in an old wine warehouse on the banks of the Charente. The museum’s unique collection includes more than 8,000 original drawings, and exhibits are changed three times a year, partly for conservation reasons and partly to offer new delights to returning visitors.

The collection is split into four themed areas, that start with a historic journey through the history of the comic strip from 1833 to the present day, including international characters like Astérix and Tintin, Mutt &Jeff and Peanuts.
Tour the design workshop to discover different techniques for cartoon production and explore the esthetics of comic strips through original plates, before enjoying the latest temporary exhibition.
Enthusiasts will be overwhelmed by the choice of titles available in the museum’s extensive bookshop, alongside posters and post cards, DVDs and other essential memorabilia.

Bandes dessinées – known in France as BD – have long held a special place in French culture for both adults and children, and Angoulême’s annual festival attracts authors, illustrators and enthusiasts from all over the world. But visitors can enjoy the art form at any time of year.

Street names are contained within speech bubbles and twenty walls all over the town have been decorated in comic strip style by a veritable Who’s Who of famous French cartoonists. Pick up the annotated map from the tourist office to discover them all. Highlights include the “Girl on the ramparts”, a study in blue on the city walls behind the covered market, and an actors’ view of the audience painted behind the stage door of the town’s theatre.

The map also details three self-guided itineraries that cover the heart of the town, the area within the ramparts, and the district bordering the river. A very foot-friendly city, Angoulême combines medieval buildings with elegant town houses built in the 18th and 19th century by wealthy paper mill owners.
Discover the industry at the Paper Museum, housed in the former Le Nil cigarette paper plant, just across the river from the new Comic Strip Museum. You can also visit two of the last remaining paper mills, the Moulin du Verger in Puymoyen which still produces paper from linen and cotton, and the Moulin de Fleurac at Nersac, which makes luxury paper by traditional techniques.

Not to be missed are the Romanesque cathedral of Saint-Peter with its intricately sculpted façade and, behind it, the town museum with its collections of local archaeological finds, African and Oceanic arts, and fine arts. The nearby terrace beneath the statue of President Sadi Carnot on the ramparts offers panoramic views across the surrounding countryside. Head up the broad avenue leading away from the statue to see the old chateau of the Counts of Angoulême,  transformed into an imposing town hall in 1858 by Paul Abadie, designer of the Sacré-Coeur at Montmartre in Paris.

More information [+]