ANGOULEME,France,Antique Map

HISTORICAL MAP CHART

ANGOULEME, a city of south-western France, capital of the department of Charente, 83 m. N.N.E. of Bordeaux on the railway between Bordeaux and Poitiers. The town proper occupies an elevated promontory, washed on the north by the Charente and on the south and west by the Anguienne, a small tributary of that river. The more important of the suburbs lie towards the east, where the promontory joins the main plateau, of which it forms the north-western extremity. The main line of the Orleans railway passes through a tunnel beneath the town. In place of its ancient fortifications Angouleme is encircled by boulevards known as the Remparts, from which fine views may be obtained in all directions. Within the town the streets are often dark and narrow, and, apart from the cathedral and the hdtel de ville, the architecture is of little interest. The cathedral of St Pierre , a church in the Byzantine-Romanesque style, but has undergone frequent restoration, and was partly rebuilt by the architect Paul Abadie. The facade, flanked by two towers with cupolas, is decorated with arcades filled in with statuary and sculpture, the whole representing the Last Judgment. The crossing is surmounted by a dome, and the extremity of the north transept by a fine square tower over 160 ft. high. The hotel de ville, also by Abadie, is a handsome modern structure, but preserves two towers of the chateau of the counts of Angouleme, on the site of which it is built. It contains museums of paintings and archaeology. Angouleme is the seat of a bishop, a prefect, and a court of assizes. Its public institutions include tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a council of trade-arbitrators, a chamber of commerce and a branch of the Bank of France. It also has a lycee, training-colleges, a school of artillery, a library and several learned societies. It is a centre of the paper-making industry, with which the town has been connected since the 14th century. Most of the mills are situated on the banks of the watercourses in the neighborhood of the town. The subsidiary industries, such as the manufacture of machinery and wire fabric, are of considerable importance. Iron and copper founding, brewing, tanning, and the manufacture of gunpowder, confectionery, heavy iron goods, gloves, boots and shoes and cotton goods are also carried on. Commerce is carried on in wine, brandy and building-stone.

1890s Wood Engraving, Antique Map

Approximate Overall Size: 7 X 10 1/2 inches

CONDITION: Book Plate INTEXT MAP - Excellent Condition. Beautiful with excellent detail. There is Text on Front and Back Side.