Agen: Historic Centre and Canal Bridge

Agen lies beside the Garonne in the Agenais, at the heart of Lot-et-Garonne. Although much of its fabric was lost through successive periods of conflict and pillage, the centre retains religious buildings, civic architecture and old streets that span many centuries. Beyond them, the canal bridge carries the canal across the river.

Cathedral and civic architecture

Saint-Caprais Cathedral dates from the twelfth century and is the seat of the Diocese of Agen. It followed an earlier basilica that was sacked by the Normans in the ninth century, and the cathedral itself suffered heavily during the Wars of Religion. It became Agen’s principal cathedral after the destruction of Saint-Étienne. Inside, a Romanesque apse is paired with a Gothic nave and main vessel, while the decoration draws on episodes from Christian and biblical history.

Notre-Dame des Jacobins, also known as Notre-Dame d’Agen, is the surviving element of a thirteenth-century Jacobin convent. Its rectangular body is divided into two naves of equal size and topped by an octagonal bell tower. The building has had several uses during its history, including a brief defensive role, and was later adapted for temporary exhibitions connected with the Fine Arts Museum.

Agen’s town hall occupies a classical building erected in 1666. It was originally a court for civil and criminal cases under the Ancien Régime. The municipal administration moved in after a new law court was built in 1869. A symmetrical façade, frieze and triangular pediments follow classical conventions.

Theatre and collections

The Théâtre Ducourneau replaced an earlier theatre built after Napoleon’s visit to Agen in 1808. Construction of the present building began in the early twentieth century, and it took the name of the benefactor who financed the work. Completed in 1908, it has an Italian-style auditorium. Reinforced concrete was chosen in part to reduce the danger of fire, making the theatre an early French example of the material’s use.

Founded in 1876, the Fine Arts Museum occupies four Renaissance town houses in the centre. Its holdings range across painting, sculpture, furniture and faience. Five paintings by Goya include a self-portrait; works by Millet, Corot and Caillebotte are also represented. An archaeological collection donated by Camille Aboussouan in 2000 contains objects from Syria and Lebanon dating from the Bronze Age to the period of the Crusades.

Old streets and public spaces

Rue Beauville, near the museum and the Jacobins church, is lined with fourteenth-century half-timbered houses built in brick. One of its most unusual details is a corner porch formed as an inverted trumpet, supporting an upper storey that projects over the street. Place des Laitiers has an older history: it occupied the site of a Gallo-Roman forum and later became the forecourt of the first cathedral dedicated to Saint-Étienne.

Nearby, the Tour Notre-Dame du Chapelet is the last surviving element of Agen’s second circuit of walls. Built in the thirteenth century, it was used as a campanile in the sixteenth. The associated convent was demolished during the Revolution, after which the tower served as a prison.

The Esplanade du Gravier began as an island whose exposed area changed with the level of the Garonne. It was laid out in the mid-eighteenth century for fairs and public celebrations, then developed as a landscaped garden around a bandstand.

The canal above the Garonne

Agen’s pont-canal was engineered to carry canal traffic over the Garonne. Almost 850 metres long and built from Quercy stone, it was designed by the engineers De Baudre and Gratien de Job and entered service in 1849.