Agen

The commune of Agen is the prefecture of the Lot-et-Garonne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It lies on the river Garonne 135 kilometres (84 miles) southeast of Bordeaux.

Government
Country	France
Region	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Department	Lot-et-Garonne
Canton	Agen-1, Agen-2, Agen-3, Agen-4
Mayor (2020–2026)	Jean Dionis du Séjour
Area¹	11.49 km² (4.44 sq mi)
Population (Jan. 2017)	33,576
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)

Economy

Located in the heart of an important agricultural region, the agro-food industry occupies a prominent place in the Agen economy. The Agropole, a vast industrial zone dedicated to the processing of food products, occupies more than 100 companies on 70 hectares and employs 1,700 people.

It is also the headquarters of a large pharmaceutical company , UPSA , a subsidiary of the BMS group . This company has two manufacturing units in the agglomeration community of Agen : one in the town itself and the other on the other side of the Garonne, at Passage . The Bigard meat cutting company is also located in the city.

Agen is also the seat of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Lot-et-Garonne .

Transport

The Gare d’Agen connects Agen with Toulouse and Bordeaux as well as Périgueux. It is around an hour from Toulouse and around an hour from Bordeaux. The TGV train to Paris takes three hours and thirteen minutes with a stop in Bordeaux. Agen is connected, by the A62 autoroute, to both Toulouse and Bordeaux.

The Agen Airport is serviced by Airlinair service to Paris Orly 6 days a week. It is also used for business and leisure flying. Agen stands on the voie verte cycle path between the Mediterranean and close to Bordeaux.

Health

Hospital Holy Spirit (north of Agen)

The hospital center is made up of three establishments which constitute a set of 700 beds and places:

the Saint-Esprit hospital center with its medicine, surgery, gynecology-obstetrics and medico-technical services;
Monbran Hospital, an establishment with 15 short-stay geriatric beds, 42 follow-up and rehabilitation beds, and 32 psychiatric beds;
the Pompeyrie gerontology center, with a long-stay sector and a retirement home.

Clinique Esquirol Saint Hilaire (Agen Sud)

The Esquirol clinic was founded in 1947 by Doctor Pierre Esquirol in the buildings of the former Hôtel Central, in the city center of Agen.

The Saint-Hilaire clinic , founded in Agen in 1904 in the center of the city, moved to the current site (in Agen Sud) in 1973 . New specialties are then emerging. Extension and restructuring work was carried out in 1994 , in parallel with the consolidation of beds and teams from Agen care facilities.

Local Culture and Heritage

Places and monuments

Saint-Caprais Cathedral

Saint-Caprais Cathedral in Agen, place Foch. Built in the xii ^th century on the site of a basilica Episcopal built in the vi ^th century, sacked by the Normans in 853 and restored, it was originally a college . It was elevated to the rank of cathedral in 1802 . The Saint-Caprais cathedral in Agen has several architectural features: its Romanesque apse is extended by a Gothic vessel with a single nave . Replacing an old wooden bell tower, the current tower was built in 1835 on the initiative of Bishop M ^gr Levezou Vezins and has the particularity to be composed of three Gothic stylistic elements (Gothic lancet, High Gothic, Gothic flamboyant) curiously presented in reverse chronological order.

Notre-Dame des Jacobins Church

Church of the Jacobins in Agen, Place des Jacobins Also known as Notre-Dame d’Agen, this church is the only vestige of the former Dominican convent , also called Jacobins . Built in the xiii ^e century , it is in the form of a rectangular vessel divided into two equal aisles and surmounted by an octagonal tower. It is linked to major events in Agen history: The church has been restored and now serves as a temporary exhibition hall for the Museum of Fine Arts.

Other places of worship:

Notre-Dame du Bourg chapel, rue des Droits de l’Homme.
Saint-Hilaire Church , boulevard Scaliger, this church is the only vestige of the former convent of the Cordeliers Brothers : completed in 1348.
Church Martrou Rue des Martyrs was built on the site where the bodies of Christian martyrs were buried early in the iv ^th century . It has a crypt made soon after.
Saint-Paul Church, rue Jean Gabriel Domergue.
Notre-Dame church, Lacapelette cemetery, avenue du Général-Leclerc.
Notre-Dame-de-Vie church, avenue Joseph Amouroux.
Saint-Phébade church , rue Montaigne. (1911), dedicated to Saint Phébade , bishop of Agen friend of Saint Hilaire to iv ^th century.
Church of the Sacred Heart, historic monument, avenue Jean Jaurès.
Chapel of the Bernard-Palissy high school, avenue Maurice Luxembourg.
Saint-Pierre chapel, place du Repos (Gaillard).
Sainte-Foy Chapel of the Sainte-Foy Institution, rue Lakanal.
Reformed Protestant temple, Cours Victor Hugo.
Reformed Protestant temple, rue Gabriel Griffon.
Seventh-Day Adventist Church, rue de Lille.
Novation Church, avenue Gaillard.
Mosque of Agen
ACI Synagogue, rue Montesquieu.

Agen Museum of Fine Arts

Founded in 1876 , the Agen Fine Arts Museum, located in the historic heart of the city, is housed in four superb Renaissance mansions, opening onto beautiful interior courtyards. It is one of the richest museums in the South-West and presents, in a pleasant course evoking the interior of a wealthy collector, a set of paintings and sculptures , furniture and European earthenware from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. ^th century.

Finally the works of the xx ^th century is presented with two outstanding capital of the French painter Roger Bissière one hand, and Claude and Francois-Xavier Lalanne, on the other.

The archaeological section of the museum is made up of objects from Lot-et-Garonne sites : the collection from the Celtic and Gallo-Roman eras is one of its major aspects. Finally, a very fine donation of oriental archeology (objects from the Bronze Age to the time of the Crusades , coming from Lebanon and Syria ) has enriched the museum.

Prefecture
Departmental hotel
Covered market: The St. Stephen’s Cathedral Agen ,The covered market in Agen
Rosary Tower
Tower of the Penitents
Footbridge over the Garonne
Agen canal bridge
Agen stone bridge

Cultural heritage

Theaters

The Ducourneau theater is an Italian-style theater. This theater was the first to be built in reinforced cement. Two other theaters complete the cultural offer: The Théâtre du Jour, founded in 1994 by Pierre Debauche , which brings together a theater company as well as a higher school of dramatic art and musical comedy, and La Tannerie which offers shows for all audiences.

The cinema

As for the big screen, two institutions share the programming: the new multiplex “CGR” (Formerly Cap’Cinéma ) (10 screens, 1600 seats), which opened its doors in 2013 and cinema arthouse “Studio Ferry ”(2 rooms, 288 seats) managed by the association Les MontreursImages .

Music and shows

The Agen Congress Center , whose inauguration was scheduled forJune 2014, is a modular performance hall with a maximum capacity of 4,562 seats.

The former Le Florida music hall has been transformed into a concert hall and rehearsal studios. This national center for the creation and distribution of amplified music, a unique structure in France, regularly welcomes artists in residence. They have in municipal premises four rehearsal studios, an 800-seat performance hall and a multimedia space.

Festivals

The Folies Vocales d’Agen
The Prairie Festival

Environmental heritage

The Alose spawning ground National Nature Reserve is located partly in the territory of Agen.

Sport

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.