| The complicated web of the old town lies on a hill above the River Sarthe to the north of the central place de la République. Its medieval streets, a hotch-potch of intricate Renaissance stonework, medieval half-timbering, sculpted pillars and beams and grand classical facades, are still encircled by the original third- and fourth-century Gallo-Roman walls, supposedly the best-preserved in Europe and running for several hundred metres. Steep, walled steps lead up from the river, and longer flights descend on the southern side of the enclosure, using old Gallo-Roman entrances. If you're intrigued, you can see pictures, maps and plans of Vieux Mans, plus examples of the city's ancient arts and crafts, most notably the collection of Malicorne ceramics, in the Musée de la Reine Bérengère (May–Sept daily 10.30am–12.30pm & 2–6.30pm; Oct–April Tues–Sun 2–6pm; €2.80 or €5.20 with Musée de Tessé), one of the Renaissance houses on rue de la Reine-Bérengère. Rearing up the hill from the east, at the crowning point of the old town, is the immense Cathédrale St-Julien, on cobbled place du Grente, with its Romanesque nave awkwardly abutting the High Gothic choir. According to Rodin, the now badly worn sculpted figures of the south porch were rivalled only in Chartres and Athens. Some of the stained-glass windows here were added in the thirteenth century, some time after the first Plantagenet was buried in the church in 1151, but the brightest colours in the otherwise austere interior come from the chapelle de Nôtre-Dame, at the easternmost end of the choir, where the stunning vault is painted with angels singing, dancing and playing medieval musical instruments, set against a lustrous red background. In the 1850s a road was tunnelled under the quarter – a slum at the time – helping to preserve its self-contained unity. On the north side of the quarter, the road tunnel comes out by an impressive monument to Wilbur Wright – who tested an early flying machine in Le Mans – which points you into place des Jacobins, the vantage point for St-Julien's double-tiered flying buttresses and apse. From here, you can walk northeast alongside the park to the Musée de Tessé, on avenue de Paderborn (July & Aug Tues–Sun 10.30am–12.30pm & 2–6.30pm; Sept–June Tues–Sat 9am–noon & 2–6pm, Sun 10–noon & 2–6pm; €4 or €5.20 with Musée de la Reine Bérengère), a mixed bunch of pictures and statues including Georges de la Tour's light at its most extraordinary in the Extase de St-François, along with copies of brilliant medieval populist murals in Sarthe churches. It also contains an enamel portrait of Geoffrey Plantagenet, which was originally part of his tomb in the cathedral. The modern centre of Le Mans is place de la République, bordered by a mixture of Belle Époque buildings and more modern office blocks, and the Baroque bulk of the church of the Visitation, built in 1730, with a balustrade inside designed by one of the sisters of the order. Just south of here is Notre-Dame de la Couture, a church with Plantagenet vaulting and a fine Last Judgement scene over the doorway on an otherwise rather ugly facade. The name has nothing to do with dressmaking but is a corruption of the word culture from the days when the church was surrounded by cultivated fields. Inside there are various treasures, including a shroud of the early seventh-century bishop of Le Mans who founded the monastery to which this church belonged.
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