Laval, Mayenne

Laval is a town in western France, about 300 kilometres west-southwest of Paris, and the capital of the Mayenne department. It grew around a rocky promontory above the river Mayenne, where the counts of Laval built their castle in the eleventh century; before that the site was only a crossing on the Roman road from Le Mans to Corseul. The counts developed a textile industry around 1300, and linen remained the main activity until the twentieth century, when milk processing became more profitable. Laval proper covers 34.2 square kilometres and has about 49,400 inhabitants, with about 145,000 in its metropolitan area. It is the birthplace of the Naive painter Henri Rousseau and keeps a museum devoted to him and other Naive artists, together with its castle, stretches of city wall, medieval houses, old bridges and churches.