Cité internationale de la bande dessinée et de l'image

The Cité internationale de la bande dessinée et de l'image is the institutional heart of Angoulême's identity as the world capital of comics. Spread across several buildings in the lower town near the Charente, the complex includes a museum, a library with one of the largest comics collections in the world, a cinema, and exhibition spaces that show both historical and contemporary work.

The permanent collection traces the history of comics and graphic narrative from early illustrated books through the great American newspaper strips, the Franco-Belgian tradition (Tintin, Asterix, Lucky Luke), and contemporary graphic novels. Temporary exhibitions cover individual artists and movements. The museum is taken seriously as a cultural institution and is worth visiting for anyone interested in the form — and even for those who are not, since the displays on the visual history of narrative are genuinely interesting.

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A story
Angoulême's association with bande dessinée began in 1974 when three local enthusiasts — Francis Groux, Claude Moliterni, and Jean Mardikian — organised a modest festival to promote the medium at a time when comic strips were still considered children's entertainment. The festival grew year by year, eventually attracting major publishers and internationally celebrated artists. By the 1990s Angoulême was the most important comics festival in the world outside the United States, and the city had committed to branding itself around the medium with museums, murals, and year-round programming.

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