TOWN TRAIL VANNES TOURING THE TOWN FOREWORD I warmly invite you to follow this trail as it guides you round Vannes, a town of tradition and modernity, art and history. The town’s popularity is founded on its quality of life, as a place where street corners, ramparts, half-timbered houses and quaysides offer a rich blend of history and heritage of which we’re immensely proud. We strive to protect our town’s shared cultural assets and to bring them to life every day. They are its DNA and our children’s and grandchildren’s heritage, and symbolise the beautiful, beating heart of Vannes. Our role is to safeguard this legacy for decades to come by extending the scope of what we protect and enhance to conserve our post-1930s’ built heritage. The reason we love Vannes and why it is one of Brittany’s most attractive towns is because of the dynamism shared by a flourishing area and an innovative, ecotown devoted to culture and sport, where every neighbourhood holds an equal place. Enjoy your walk. David Robo Mayor of Vannes 2 CONTENTS 4. MAP 6. A TOWN TAKES SHAPE 8. THE TOWN THROUGH THE CENTURIES 10. FROM PLACE TO PLACE 16. FAMOUS RESIDENTS OF VANNES 19. TASTES AND TALENTS 22. NATURE IN TOWN Cover : Half-timbered houses, rue du Port Aerial view: la place Henri IV et la rue Émile Burgault Opposite: Place Brûlée 3 Église Saint-Patern Rue Joseph Le Brix 13 Rue du Mené 20 Chapelle Fontaine la de Rue Saint-Yves Porte Saint-Jean Tour Rue Saint-Patern du Bourreau Bastion porte Notre-Dame 14 Rue Billault 12 Rue Brizeux magasin Hôtel 22 Place Rue mile BurgaultAu Progrès de ville Maurice Marchais Porte Prison Magasin 15 Petit-Fers Rue Porte Prison Rue des Chanoines Place Brûlée Tour Chapelle du Saint-Sacrement Bertranne de la cathédrale 17 Cathédrale Saint-Pierre Place Tour Henri IV 16 Rue Saint-Guénael Joliette Rue de Closmadeuc 19 Rue Saint-Salomon Place Porte Rue des Vierges Préfecture Saint-Salomon Saint-Pierre Rue Thiers Rue des Halles18 10 Bienfaisance la de Rue Hôtel La Cohue Rue de la Monnaie de Roscanvec Musée Jardins Tour de la préfecture Poudrière 11 Rue des Orfèvres Hôtel de Limur 9 Place Tour 9 Valencia Place Saint-Francois Lucien Laroche Château Jardin Gaillard des Remparts Musée 27 Rue Noé 8 Maison Rue des Remparts Place de Vannes de la République et sa femme 28 Rue Francid Decker Rue Lehellec Tour du Connétable Place des Lices 7 Rue du Marché couvert Hôtel Mynier 6 Les Halles Bastion Place Eperon Rue Porte Poterne de la Parc de du de la Garenne Broillay Poids Public Garenne Rue de la Poissonnerie 31 29 Lavoirs Porte Poterne Château de l’Hermine 32 Rue Thiers Jardin Halle Rue Saint Vincent des Remparts aux Bastion poissons 5 de Haute-folie Place de la Poissonnerie Bastion Porte 2 de 4 Calmont Gréguennic Rue Alexandre Le Pontois Chapelle 33 des Ursulines Porte Saint-Vincent Tour Rue Carnot Trompette 3 Place Gambetta Rue du Port 4 1 Le port N Église Saint-Patern Rue Joseph Le Brix 23 Rue du Mené Chapelle Fontaine la de Rue Saint-Yves Porte Saint-Jean Tour Rue Saint-Patern du Bourreau Bastion porte Ménimur 38 Notre-Dame Rue Billault Rue Brizeux 37 magasin Hôtel 22 Place Rue mile BurgaultAu Progrès de ville Maurice Marchais Porte Prison 39 Magasin Nord Gare Petit-Fers Rue Porte Prison Rue des Chanoines Place Brûlée Tour Chapelle du Saint-Sacrement 26 Bernus Beaupré-La Lande Bertranne de la cathédrale 40 Centre 42 Cathédrale Saint-Pierre 21 Kercado Place Tour Cliscouët Henri IV Rue Saint-Guénael Joliette 36 Rue de Closmadeuc 35 Tohannic Rue Saint-Salomon 24 41 Place Porte Rue des Vierges Préfecture Saint-Salomon Saint-Pierre Rue Thiers Conleau Rue des Halles Rue de la Bienfaisance la de Rue Hôtel 34 La Cohue Rue de la Monnaie de Roscanvec Musée Jardins Presqu'île Tour de la préfecture Poudrière de Conleau Rue des Orfèvres 25 Hôtel de Limur Place Tour 9 Valencia Place Saint-Francois Lucien Laroche Château Jardin Gaillard des Remparts FORTIFICATIONS NINETEENTH-CENTURY Musée 4 Saint Vincent Gate COMMERCIAL PROPERTIES Rue Noé 14 Bastion and Notre Dame Gate 26 Petit-Fers Building Maison Rue des Remparts Place de Vannes 20 Saint Jean Gate 15 Au Progrès retail de la République et sa femme and residential premises Rue Francid Decker 21 Joliette Tower Curtain Wall Rue Lehellec 22 Prison Gate Tour PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND SPACES du Connétable 28 Le Connétable Tower Place 1 Harbour des Lices 31 Postern Gate 3 Place Gambetta 32 Château de l’Hermine 5 Rue Saint-Vincent 33 Calmont Tower and Gate Rue du Marché couvert 7 Place des Lices Hôtel Mynier RELIGIOUS BUILDINGS 12 Town Hall 30 2 Ursuline Chapel 18 La Cohue, Museum of Fine Arts Les Halles Bastion Place Eperon 19 Rue Saint-Guénael Rue Porte Poterne de la Parc 13 Saint Yves Chapel de du de la Garenne 24 Prefecture government office Broillay Poids Public Garenne 16 Saint Pierre Cathedral Rue de la Poissonnerie 25 Prefecture Gardens Lavoirs 17 Cathedral Chapel of the Holy Porte 27 Rampart Gardens Poterne Sacrament Château 23 Saint Patern Church 29 Washhouses de l’Hermine 38 Saint Guen Church 30 La Garenne Park 39 Departmental Directorate Rue Thiers Jardin of Land and Maritime Affairs Halle Rue Saint Vincent des Remparts URBAN RESIDENCES aux 6 Hôtel Mynier Bastion poissons NEIGHBOURHOODS de 8 House with Vannes et sa femme Haute-folie Place Conleau de la sculpture 34 Poissonnerie 35 Cliscouët Bastion Porte 9 Château Gaillard, Museum de Calmont 36 Kercado Gréguennic Rue Alexandre Le Pontois of History and Archaeology Chapelle Hôtel de Roscanvec 37 Ménimur des Ursulines Porte 10 Saint-Vincent Tour 40 Bernus Trompette 11 Hôtel de Limur Rue Carnot 41 Tohannic Place 42 Beaupré-La Lande Gambetta Rue du Port TOURIST OFFICE 5 Le port N 1. Detail of Cassini map from around 1780 2. Detail of map of Morbihan, Le Grain, 1637 3. Hôtel de ville – Town Hall 1 1 early stages of the fall of the Roman Empire. For a long period it was written Vennes, pro- A TOWN nounced ‘djuened’ – Gwened in Breton. TAKES SHAPE AN EARLY BRITTANY BISHOPRIC FOUNDED MORE THAN 2000 YEARS AGO Vannes has been a bishop’s see since the fifth IN THE GULF OF MORBIHAN, VANNES century CE. The town developed round two GREW FROM A BUSTLING HARBOUR centres: one intramuros around the cathedral AND CONTINUED TO DEVELOP UNTIL and on the original Gallo-Roman site around THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. the Church of Saint Patern. This urban hub was gradually abandoned in favour of another FIRST NAMED DARIORITUM the fortified site of Le Mené. Building works Following the Roman conquest at the end of launched between the twelfth and thirteenth the first century BCE, the Gallo-Roman town centuries provide evidence of urban renewal. extended across a hilltop overlooking a site on The Dukes of Brittany were concerned with the the ria, where land and sea trade routes met. maintenance of the ramparts, while a court Darioritum was laid out round a vast forum, of justice was erected in La Cohue, opposite the administrative and political centre of the the cathedral. A well-structured road network Veneti. Below the town, a harbour close to around these major buildings was also the Prison Gate, stimulated the settlement’s created. commercial activity. At the end of the third century CE, pressure from seaborne raids by EXTENDING THE RAMPARTS Franks and Saxons forced the construction of a castrum or fort on the neighbouring hill of Vannes became Brittany’s capital at the end Le Mené. of the Middle Ages. Duke Jean IV (1365-1399) ordered construction of the Château de l’Her- RENAMED VENETIS IN THE LATE FIFTH mine and doubled the extent of the urban area CENTURY from five to ten hectares. The town spread towards the harbour, which was a hive of The new name, which was derived from activity at the time. Veneti, the name of the Gaulish tribe defeated by Julius Caesar in 56 BCE, was revived in the 6 2 3 THE MODERN TOWN artillery regiments, which boosted activity in In the seventeenth century, several religious the town. Small-scale industries and housing houses were established on the fringes of the sprang up close to the station, with residential town. Between 1675 and 1689, the Parliament neighbourhoods then developing to the west. of Brittany was obliged to leave Rennes and sit New roadways were laid out, skirting the his- in exile in Vannes. This led to the construction toric ramparts and causing minimal damage. of new buildings, particularly in the southern Huge efforts were devoted to constructing part of the walled town. A drinking-water public buildings such as the government supply system and the layout of tree-lined offices – Prefecture – and Town Hall. promenades further enhanced the town’s attractiveness. THE TOWN TODAY In the fifteenth century, under the stewar- Vannes exapnded significantly in the wake dship of Brittany’s regional administrators, of the Second World War. The period from engineers and architects sought to improve the 1960s to the 1980s saw the creation of the main access routes to the various town dis- the Kercado quarter, Ménimur priority urban tricts. The main problem, however, remained development area (ZUP) and Cliscouët joint the silting up of the harbour, which forced development zone (ZAC), and the develop- construction of a sluice gate and the layout ment of the northern ringroad. The result of new quays. The work to cut through the was a profound change to the extent of urba- knoll known as the Butte de Kérino, designed nisation, which today reaches beyond the to rectify problems with the channel leading boundaries of the commune.