Wingsch Real Estate Investments   

Le Mans in the Pays de la Loire

Friday, 18 May 2018 - 11:00 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: European Union / Europäische Union
Category/Kategorie: General Reading Time:  4 minutes

🔊 Listen to this Post Le Mans is a city on the Sarthe River. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Mans. Le Mans is a part of the Pays de la Loire region. Its inhabitants are called Manceaux and Mancelles.

First mentioned by Claudius Ptolemy, the Roman city Vindinium was the capital of the Aulerci, a sub tribe of the Aedui. Le Mans is also known as Civitas Cenomanorum (City of the Cenomani), or Cenomanus. Their city, seized by the Romans in 47 BC, was within the ancient Roman province of Gallia Lugdunensis. A 3rd-century amphitheatre is still visible. The thermae were demolished during the crisis of the third century when workers were mobilized to build the city’s defensive walls. The ancient wall around Le Mans is one of the most complete circuits of Gallo-Roman city walls to survive.

Main sights are:

• Le Mans has a well-preserved old town (Cité Plantagenêt, also called Vieux Mans) and the Cathédrale St-Julien, dedicated to St Julian of Le Mans who is honoured as the city’s first bishop.
• Remnants of a Roman wall are visible in the old town and Roman baths are located by the river. These walls are highlighted every summer (July and August) evening in a light show that tells the history of the town.
• Arboretum de la Grand Prée
• Part of the former Cistercian abbey de l’Epau, founded by Queen Berengaria and currently maintained in extensive grounds by the Département de la Sarthe.
• Jardin des Plantes du Mans
• Musée de la reine Bérengère, a museum of Le Mans history located in a gothic manor house.
• Musée de Tessé, the fine arts museum of the city, displaying painting (including artworks by Philippe de Champaigne, Charles Le Brun, François Boucher, John Constable, Ingres, Théodore Géricault and Camille Corot) and archaeological collections as well as decorative arts.

The first French Grand Prix took place on a 64-mile (103 km) circuit based at Le Mans in 1906. Since the 1920s, the city has been best known for its connection with motorsports. There are two official and separate racing tracks at Le Mans, though they share certain portions. The smaller is the Bugatti Circuit (named after Ettore Bugatti, founder of the car company bearing his name), a relatively short permanent circuit, which is used for racing throughout the year and has hosted the French motorcycle Grand Prix. The longer and more famous Circuit de la Sarthe is composed partly of public roads. These are closed to the public when the track is in use for racing. Since 1923, this route has been used for the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans sports car endurance race. Boutiques and shops are set up during the race, selling merchandise and promoting products for cars. The “Le Mans start” was formerly used in the 24-hour race: drivers lined up across the track from their cars, ran across the track, jumped into their cars and started them to begin the race.

Read more on City of Le Mans, Le Mans Tourism, 24 Hours of Le Mans, Wikivoyage Le Mans and Wikipedia Le Mans (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). Photos by Wikimedia Commons. If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.

---

Recommended posts:

• 2017 Formula One season
• Le Castellet in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region
• Uzès in the Languedoc-Roussillon region
• Brive-la-Gaillarde in the Corrèze department
• Neuf-Brisach in Alsace
• Theme Week Champagne – Châlons-en-Champagne
• Auxerre in Burgundy
• The seaside resort of Le Touquet-Paris-Plage
• Fontenay-le-Comte in the Pays de la Loire
• Tours, the Garden of France
• Nîmes, capital of the Gard department
• Périgueux in Aquitaine
• Theme Week Provence – Salon-de-Provence
• Theme Week Corsica – Bastia
• With the Train des Pignes from Nice to Digne-les-Bains