Coordinates: 44°12′18″N 0°37′16″E / 44.204931°N 0.621153°E
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Commune of Agen |
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| The Cathedral of Saint-Caprais in Agen | |
| Location | |
  Agen
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| Administration | |
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| Country | France |
| Region | Aquitaine |
| Department | Lot-et-Garonne |
| Arrondissement | Agen |
| Intercommunality | Agen |
| Mayor | Jean Dionis (2008–2014) |
| Statistics | |
| Elevation | 37–162 m (121–531 ft) (avg. 48 m/157 ft) |
| Land area1 | 11.49 km2 (4.44 sq mi) |
| Population2 | 30,170 (1999) |
| - Density | 2,626 /km2 (6,800 /sq mi) |
| Miscellaneous | |
| INSEE/Postal code | 47001/ 47000 |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
| 2 Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once. | |
Agen (French pronunciation: [aʒɛ̃]) is a commune in the Lot-et-Garonne department in Aquitaine in south-western France. It lies on the river Garonne 84 miles (135 km) southeast of Bordeaux. It is the capital of the department.
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The town has a higher level of unemployment than the national average. Major employers include UPSA, the pharmaceutical factory.
The old centre of town contains a number of medieval buildings.
The twelfth century Agen Cathedral, dedicated to Saint Caprasius, is one of the few large churches in France with a double nave; the curious and impractical plan may be a regional trait, since one of the others is the Church of the Jacobins in relatively nearby Toulouse.
The Saint Hilaire church, dedicated to the theme of the Holy Trinity which the Saint in question did a lot to defend, is notable for its unusual statues in front of the Church - Moses on the right, and St Peter on the left.
The Fine Arts museum, Musée des Beaux Arts contains artefacts furniture and sculptures from prehistoric times onwards. The painting galleries contain several hundred works including several by Goya, and others by Bonnard, Seurat. The collection also contains a large number of works by artists who lived locally. The museum is made up of twenty or so rooms.[1]
The Canal des Deux Mers, which joins the Mediterranean with the Atlantic, crosses the river Garonne at Agen via the town's famous canal bridge.
The municipal theatre "Théâtre du Courneau" presents theatre, and occasionally classical concerts. The smaller "Théâtre du jour" has a resident theatre company presenting a variety of recent or older plays (Shakespeare, Becket, as well as lesser known playwrights).
There are two cinemas, one a commercial multiscreened affair, the other an arts cinema run by a voluntary organization. The latter organizes film festivals every year.
Rugby is extremely popular in the town, and the local team, SU Agen, is enthusiastically supported. The town also serves as the base for the Team Lot-et-Garonne cycling team.
For many decade "Le petit bleu" has been the daily newspaper, with stories of local or national interest.
Agen is connected by the A62 motorway to both Toulouse and Bordeaux. By train it is around an hour from Toulouse, and around an hour from Bordeaux. Fast trains to Paris take four hours and ten minutes. It has a very small airport mostly used for business flights and leisure flying.
Agen is the seat of a Roman Catholic diocese that comprises the Département of Lot and Garonne. It is a suffragan of the archdiocese of Bordeaux.
Agen is twinned with:
Tuapse, Russia
Dinslaken, Germany[2]
Llanelli, United Kingdom
Toledo, Spain[3]
Corpus Christi, United StatesAgen was the birthplace of:
Agen is the "capital of the prune", a local produce sold as a sweet (stuffed with prune purée) or as an after-dinner delight (prunes soaked in Armagnac - a type of brandy). Every September, the Prune festival organizes rock concerts, circuses and prune tasting.
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AGEN, a city of south-western France, capital of the department of Lot-et-Garonne, 84 m. S.E. of Bordeaux by the Southern railway between Bordeaux and Toulouse. Pop. (1906) 18,640. It is skirted on the west by the Garonne itself, and on the north by its lateral canal. The river is crossed by a stone bridge, by a suspension bridge for foot-passengers, and by a fine canalbridge, carrying the lateral canal. Pleasant promenades stretch for some distance along the right bank. The town is a medley of old narrow streets contrasting with the wide modern boulevards which cross it at intervals. The chief building in Agen is the cathedral of St Caprais, the most interesting portion of which is the apse of the 12th century with its three apse-chapels; the transept dates from the 12th and 13th centuries, the nave from the 14th to the 16th centuries; the tower flanking the south facade is modern. The interior is decorated with modern paintings and frescoes. There are several other churches, among them the church of the Jacobins, a brick building of the 13th century, and the church of St Hilaire of the 16th century, which has a modern tower. In the prefecture, a building of the 18th century, once the bishop's palace, is a collection of historical portraits. The hotel de ville occupies the former Hotel du Presidial, an obsolete tribunal, and contains the municipal library. Two houses of the 16th century, the Hotel d'Estrades and the Hotel de Vaurs, are used as the museum, which has a rich collection of fossils, prehistoric and Roman remains, and other antiquities and curiosities. The poet Jacques Jasmin was a native of the town, which has erected a statue to him. Through its excellent water communication it affords an outlet for the agricultural produce of the district, and forms an entrepot of trade between Bordeaux and Toulouse. Agen is the seat of a bishop. It is the seat of a court of appeal and a court of assizes, and has tribunals of first instance and of commerce and a chamber of commerce. There are also ecclesiastical seminaries, lycees for boys and girls, training-colleges, a school of commerce and industry, and a branch of the Bank of France. Agen is the market for a rich agricultural region. The chief articles of commerce are fattened poultry, prunes (pruneaux d'Agen) and other fruit, cork, wine, vegetables and cattle. Manufactures include flour, dried plums, p� de foie gras and other delicacies, hardware, manures, brooms, drugs, woven goods tiles.
Agen (Aginnum) was the capital of the Celtic tribe of the Nitiobroges, and the discovery of extensive ruins attests its importance under the Romans. In later times it was the capital of the Agenais. Its bishopric was founded in the 4th century. Agen changed hands more than once in the course of the Albigensian wars, and at their close a tribunal of inquisition was established in the town and inflicted cruel persecution on the heretics. During the religious wars of the 16th century Agen took the part of the Catholics and openly joined the League in 1589. Labenazie, Histoire de la ville d'Agen et pays d'Agenois, ed. by A.-G. de Dampierre (1888); rA. Ducom, La Commune d'Agen: essay sur son histoire et son organisation depuis son origine jusqu'au traite de Bretigny (1892).
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   | office de tourisme - Agen - Office de Tourisme |
| | site de la ville - Site Officiel de la Ville d'Agen : Informations pratiques, actualités, services en ligne |
| | Diocese of Agen - CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Agen |
| | Agen Tourism - Agen Attractions - France - A France Attraction |
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