Founded in the Gallo-Roman era, Agen is more than two thousand years old. It has had a troubled history, stricken by religious wars, plague epidemics, famines…The development of trade in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries enabled the city to expand.
Nowadays, it owes its fame to the oval ball -rugby- and to the oval fruit –the prune. As a heritage of its past, the city still contains medieval quarters like the area of the rue des Cornières which still boasts some fourteenth century buildings. Rue Beauville, with its half-timbered houses, constitutes a beautiful testimony of fifteenth century Agen. Not far from there, the church of the Jacobins, a former chapel of the Dominican monastery, built on the highest point of the twelfth century city, is one of the rare examples of Dominican architecture in France. 
The Saint-Caprais cathedral, which was built in the eleventh century, displays a mixture of styles, showing that it was rebuilt on several occasions throughout the centuries. Nevertheless, it still has an outstanding Roman chevet.
Lastly,don’t forget to go for a stroll in the Gardens of the Gravier. A nice walk along the Garonne, with a beautiful view on the nineteenth century freestone “bridge-canal”, is in store for you.
If you are an art lover, go and visit the art gallery which is settled in four Renaissance town houses . You will discover large collections of paintings from different Schools, decorative art works (“arts décoratifs”), particularly ceramics by Bernard Palissy, a native of these parts.

Between the Périgord, the Quercy, the Landes and Gascony, the region of Agen offers fertile and sunny soils, unspoilt and varied landscapes evoking Tuscany. It has 3500 kms of hiking trails and a network of 300 kms of navigable canals among the most picturesque in France.
You will discover the biggest amusement park of the South-West of France, a thermal spa, 6 golf courses, a tourist train, lakes where you can go swimming or fishing, a tree-top adventure course with ropes and log bridges. You can also go climbing, go-karting, microlighting, hot-air ballooning and have fun at fairs and festivals all summer long. The Lot-et-Garonne also has a rather exceptional natural and cultural heritage. Thus, you can find no less than 150 tourist attractions to visit, 42 country houses, over 3000 pigeon houses…and many magnificent castles.
Rightly described as “the biggest orchard in France”, the Lot-et Garonne is a gourmet region and its reputation of excellence is firmly established. Besides the immensely famous prune of Agen, a real star of the region, the gastronomy of the Lot-et_Garonne conceals countless treasures.