The city lowers the drawbridge of the castle for inhabitants

After an agreement between the Angers city and the Centre des monuments nationaux, the mayor made public last week, the access to the castle for Angers inhabitants having the carte Atout will be free from next month. That good idea has a double interest. First, it ends an anomaly. Even if the castle is property of the French state, and not of the city, the Angers inhabitants, probably the most important prescribers of visits, were in difficult position to go with friends in the monument they are proud of. The full price for one person is € 8,50! So the measure should stimulate the number of local visitors and increase the receipts of the castle.

But the change has another interest. It gets the castle closer to the Angevins. That momument will be highlighted with the complete redevelopment of the Maine left bank in the years to come. The street leading to the drawbridge and the Bout du monde walkway will be totally refurbished. A lift will even join that place to the bottom of the escarpment. 

Of course, given the economic circumstances, Angers city is not looking for new expenses linked to the maintenance of the monument. With the new banks of Maine scheme, the city should insist on the interest to restore the Great Hall overlooking the Maine and partially covered by ugly iron roofs since more than twenty years while the city collected money to help to rebuild the royal home completely destroyed by a fire in 2009. The € 50 000 Angers city will give to the state to offset the loss of charged visitors could allow a closer association with the state regarding the preservation and above all the life of its most symbolic place.