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The city of Agen lies in the southwestern department of Lot-et-Garonne in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. The city centre lies on the east bank of the river Garonne, the Canal de Garonne flows through the city, approximately halfway between Bordeaux 132 km (82 mi) and Toulouse 107 km (66 mi).
Climate
Agen features an oceanic climate (Cfb), in the Köppen climate classification. Winters are mild and feature cool to cold temperatures while summers are mild and warm. Rainfall is spread equally throughout the year; however, most sunshine hours are from March–September.
Climate data for Agen (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1941–present)
From OccitanAgen (1197), itself from LatinAginnum (3rd century Itinéraire d'Antonin), from a Celtic root agin- meaning "rock or height".[5]
Population
Alphonse, Count of Poitiers and Count of Toulouse, recognized the autonomy of the commune of Agen. In this illustration he takes an oath before the consuls with his right hand on the town ordinances, while sitting on a pedestal. The consul administering the oath is forced to go on his knees, symbolizing Alphonse's lordship and the town's loyalty.
Historical population
Year
Pop.
±% p.a.
1793
19,639
—
1800
9,876
−9.35%
1806
10,850
+1.58%
1821
11,659
+0.48%
1831
12,631
+0.80%
1836
13,399
+1.19%
1841
14,987
+2.27%
1846
15,517
+0.70%
1851
16,027
+0.65%
1856
17,667
+1.97%
1861
17,263
−0.46%
1866
18,222
+1.09%
1872
18,887
+0.60%
1876
19,503
+0.81%
1881
20,485
+0.99%
1886
22,055
+1.49%
1891
23,234
+1.05%
1896
22,730
−0.44%
Year
Pop.
±% p.a.
1901
22,482
−0.22%
1906
23,141
+0.58%
1911
23,294
+0.13%
1921
23,391
+0.04%
1926
23,530
+0.12%
1931
24,939
+1.17%
1936
27,152
+1.71%
1946
33,397
+2.09%
1954
32,593
−0.30%
1962
32,800
+0.08%
1968
34,949
+1.06%
1975
34,039
−0.38%
1982
31,593
−1.06%
1990
30,553
−0.42%
1999
30,170
−0.14%
2007
33,863
+1.45%
2012
33,730
−0.08%
2017
33,576
−0.09%
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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 art museum, the Musée des Beaux Arts [fr], contains artefacts, furniture and sculptures from prehistoric times onwards. The art gallery contains several hundred works, including several by Goya, and others by Bonnard and 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.[8]
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.
Louis Arthur Ducos du Hauron (1837 – 1920), a pioneer of colour photography lived and worked in Agen. He developed practical processes for colour photography on the three-colour principle, using both additive and subtractive methods.[9][10][11] In 1868 he patented his ideas (French Patent No. 83061) and in 1869 he published them in Les couleurs en photographie, solution du problème.
The most widely reproduced of his surviving colour photographs is the View of Agen, an 1877 landscape, printed by the subtractive assembly method which he pioneered. Several different photographs of the view from his attic window, one dated 1874, also survive.
Entertainment
The municipal theatre "Théâtre Ducourneau" 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, Beckett, 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.
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.
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.
Nostradamus lived in Agen from 1531 until at least 1534. He was married to a local woman with whom he had two children.[24]
Miscellaneous
Agen is the "capital of the prune", a local product consumed as a sweet, either stuffed with prune purée or in pastries, or as a dessert, e.g., prunes soaked in Armagnac, a type of brandy. On the last weekend of August, a prune festival comprises rock concerts, circus performances and prune tastings.
Jewish presence
The first Jews settled in the town in the twelfth century AD. They were expelled from the town in 1306. A number of Jews returned to the town in 1315, and a "Rue des Juifs" is documented ever since this period. In 1968, about 600 Jews lived in the town, though most of them had emigrated from North Africa.[citation needed] A Jewishsynagogue still exists in the town.[25]
^Bénédicte Boyrie-Fénié, avec la collaboration d’André Bianchi, Pèire Boissière, Patrice Gentié et Maurice Romieu, Dictionnaire toponymique des communes du Lot-et-Garonne, Pau, Éditions Cairn, décembre 2012, 320 p. (ISBN978-2-35068-231-0), p. 41.
^"Lumière Jubilee". Time. 18 November 1935. The idea was patented as early as 1864 [sic—actually 1868] by a now forgotten Frenchman named Louis Arthur Ducos du Hauron.
^Solbert, Oscar N.; Beaumont, Newhall; Card, James G., eds. (April 1952). "Forgotten Pioneers IV: Louis Ducos Du Hauron (1837–1920)"(PDF). Image, Journal of Photography of George Eastman House. 1 (6). Rochester, N.Y.: International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House Inc.: 2. Archived from the original(PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
^Dr. Carl Finch (1920). "Louis Arthur Ducos du Hauron, In Memoriam". Photo-Era, The American Journal of Photography. Vol. 45. New England Photo Era Publishing Company. pp. 281–282.
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