Travel Guide to Laval, France

Laval is a town in France with population of approximately 31 thousand of people. The town is located on the bank of the реке Maynenne River.

In this town are well-developed paper, fabric, sewing industries, pottery, cast iron and lime manufacturing, and dressing. Besides this Laval is the place for conducting various studies in such areas as science, new technologies, electronics, food industry, pharmaceutics, video-audio equipment, and so on. Laval is also a large center of manufacturing of milk products – milk, cheese and yoghurt.

Among the main sights of this town are the medieval castle Château de Laval and the ruins of the town’s gates and walls. These are the main symbols of Laval. In 1020 the town was more like several settlements that were slowly merging into one. In the XIII century here was built a bank and 5 gates. Only the gates named Beucheresse and Woodcutter gates have survived till our days. Besides the palace and gates you can visit La Trinité Cathedral, which interior is decorated with old wall drawings and stone carvings.

Jardin botanique de la Perrine botanic garden located on the bank of the Maenn River features French gardens and English rosary with over a hundred of roses’ types. The botanic garden keeps such unique types of plants as camellias (there are over 20 types of this flower in the garden), ilex, Atlantic cedar and much more. In this garden there is also a memorial of the painter Henri Rousseau who lived in 1844-1910, birds’ open-air cage for rare and exotic pigeons, a house for ducks near the lake, and a hothouse that often works as an exhibition center.