FRANCE	FRANCE
région: Pays de la Loire
département: 49, Maine-et-Loire

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Angers Angers is located at the geographical center of the Maine-et-Loire department, on the road which connects Paris to the Atlantic ocean, about 91 km from Nantes, 124 km from Rennes, 132 km from Poitiers and 297 km from Paris. Angers is chef-lieu of the département Maine-et-Loire. The municipality of Angers has a population of about 150,100 (2013). Angers is the historical capital of Anjou and was for centuries an important stronghold in northwestern France. It is the cradle of the Plantagenet dynasty and was during the reign of René of Anjou one of the intellectual centers of Europe. Angers developed at the confluence of three rivers, the Mayenne, the Sarthe, and the Loir, all coming from the north and flowing south to the Loire. Their confluence, just north of Angers, creates the Maine, a short but wide river that flows into the Loire several kilometers south.

The Grand Théâtre [left], dominating the Place du Ralliement, was first built in 1791, but destroyed by a fire in 1865. The existing building, designed by the architects Alphonse Botrel and Auguste Magne, was completed in 1871; its auditorium contains six stalls and four balconies, totaling 730 seats.

The Place du Ralliement was originally called Place de la Guillotine, then Place Saint-Maurille before it was renamed Place du Ralliement on 23 April 1791, firstly refering to the frequent gathering of the people, especially for death sentences, but also to gatherings of draftees and militaries, such as the Garde Nationale. After a fire had destroyed the old theatre in 1865 and the old hospice had disappeared in 1872, the place du Ralliement was reshaped and enlarged. During the French Revolution, it was the site of the guillotine. It was here that Saint Noël Pinot was executed.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angers, https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angers; http://www.angers.fr/vie-pratique/culture/les-equipements-culturels/le-grand-theatre/le-grand-theatre/son-histoire/index.html; https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Place_du_Ralliement]