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At Château d'Angers, the Festival of the Apocalypse turned the Tapestry into a free nighttime stage
On Saturday, May 23, 2026, the Festival of the Apocalypse offered a free evening until midnight at Château d'Angers. Live drawing before the Tapestry, tastings, strolling performances, a DJ set and food brought contemporary creation into dialogue with the medieval imagination.
A late-night opening centred on the Apocalypse
The Festival of the Apocalypse took place on Saturday, May 23, 2026, as part of the European Night of Museums. From 7 pm to midnight, with last entry at 11:30 pm, this free late-night opening invited the public to explore the theme of the Apocalypse in a festive atmosphere at Château d'Angers.
The event was led by a collective of artists and enthusiasts, gathered at the foot of the world's largest tapestry. Its starting point was clear: to bring the Apocalypse Tapestry into dialogue in a different way, drawing on its images of an overflowing wine vat, meteorites and rains of frogs, between fascination and unease.
The château, setting for an evening between heritage and creation
Beyond this one evening, the Château d'Angers is both a fortress and the home of a medieval masterpiece unlike any other in the world. The festival programme chose to inhabit this heritage without freezing it in time, placing artists, visitors, music and tastings in direct contact with the Apocalypse Gallery.
Admission was announced as free, with no booking required, and the event was accessible to people with reduced mobility and to pushchairs. Visitors nevertheless had to take account of the monument's access rules regarding the Vigipirate security plan, animals and luggage before arriving.
Four artists confronting the missing scenes
From 7 pm to 10 pm, the live drawing performance “The Missing Part” animated the heart of the Apocalypse Gallery. Juliette Barbanègre, Guillaume Carreau, Frédéric Coché and Quentin Masse imagined and drew, before the public, details and scenes that had disappeared from the Tapestry.
This intervention was not limited to a graphic demonstration. The four artists occupied the empty spaces in the monumental work and offered a contemporary, personal reading of the Tapestry, turning observation into a shared creative experience.
A vintage and four horsemen along the walk
The Mosse estate presented “The Apocalypse Vintage” between 7 pm and 10 pm. This limited-edition vintage was offered for tasting. Buying a bottle also allowed visitors to take part in a customisation workshop, with six labels created for the occasion from elements of the Tapestry.
Participants could choose a label, wax their bottle and then apply the seal of the Apocalypse. During the same time slot, Louis Jarry's performance brought forth the four horsemen of the Apocalypse along the walk, in a roaming performance announced as somewhere between a danse macabre and a medieval carnival.
A DJ set to extend the night in the courtyard
From 10 pm until midnight, DJ Aimé took over in the château courtyard. An explorer of French music for around a decade, he mixes vinyl records and opens his repertoire to traditional sounds as well as electronic rhythms.
This musical finale was intended to draw the public into a joyful collective trance. The choice of a DJ set in the heart of the courtyard thus extended the festival's principle: bringing together the motifs of the Apocalypse, artistic performances and an evening open to all audiences.
Medieval cuisine, drinks and a cocktail before the end of the world
Food was available from 7 pm to midnight. Chef Rémi, from the restaurant “Chez Rémi”, brought his cooking to the château's seigneurial courtyard for a selection of dishes in tribute to medieval cuisine. This paid offering did not require booking.
Le Cercle Rouge wine bar completed the evening with a selection of wines, beers and soft drinks. Mixologist Bel's also created a cocktail presented as a drink to sip before the end of the world, playfully extending the theme chosen for the festival.
An off-site programme from the previous evening, between bookshop and cinema
The festival began as early as Friday, May 22 with an off-site “prequel”. At 7 pm, Myriagone bookshop hosted Frédéric Coché for the opening of an exhibition of engravings taken from his book “∞”, published by Éditions du Frémok, followed by a discussion led by Andreas Lemaire.
At 9:30 pm, Les 400 Coups cinema screened “The Night Eats the World” by Dominique Rocher, in the presence of the director and Hervé Yannou, administrator of the national monuments. The screening cost €5.70 and was not recommended for under-12s, adding a cinematic stop to the programme imagined around end-of-the-world stories.
Sources: chateau-angers.fr