Quiberon

Quiberon ; Kiberen
region	Brittany
Department	Morbihan
Arrondissement	Lorient
Canton	Quiberon ( chief lieu )
Community association	Auray Quiberon Terre Atlantique
Coordinates	47 ° 29 ′ N , 3 ° 7 ′ W Coordinates: 47 ° 29 ′ N , 3 ° 7 ′ W
height	0-33 m
surface	8.83 km 2
Residents	4,741 (January 1, 2017)
Population density	537 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code	56170
INSEE code	56186
Website	www.ville-quiberon.fr
	; Quiberon promenade and beach

Quiberon [ ki.b (ə) .ʁɔ ] (bret. Kiberen ) is a French port city , a canton and a peninsula in the department of Morbihan in the region of Brittany . Fishing once played a large role in Quiberon's economy. The 4741 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2017) of the city live mainly from the up to 60,000 tourists during the summer.

geography

The white point (small map) shows the location of Quiberon. The Quiberon peninsula can be seen on the large map ; the red point marks the position of the port city. In the south you can see part of the Belle-Île .

The Côte Sauvage

Quiberon and Saint-Pierre-Quiberon were once an island until, from around the 11th century, the clearing of forests released sand that formed a land bridge due to wind and ocean currents . The north-south facing peninsula is about 14 km long.

What is special about the Quiberon peninsula is its diversity, which is due to the fact that one side of the island faces the mainland (Bay of Quiberon) and the other faces the Atlantic . The sea is calm on the land side, in contrast to the Wild Coast ( Côte sauvage ) on the Atlantic side with small sandy beaches between the rocky bays of Port Blanc and Port Bara , where swimming is strictly prohibited.

The coast has been badly affected by tourism, so attempts are being made to preserve the vegetation through protective fences and similar measures.

history

The area has a long prehistory, as evidenced by the Dolmen of Porz Guen (also called Port-Blanc) and a number of menhirs , some of which date back to around 4000 BC. To be dated. There is a gap between the Stone Age and the Celtic island culture in terms of settlement and monuments.

Statue Hoche

Protective measures to preserve the natural vegetation on the Côte Sauvage

Around the 5th century BC The Celtic Venetians settled the island and maintained trade relations, including with the British. The land was reclaimed and iron tools and weapons were made. 56 BC The Romans, under Julius Caesar, defeated the Venetians in the sea battle off the Rhuys peninsula and conquered Brittany (Celtic name Armorica ).

During the Seven Years' War , the British destroyed six French ships ("Bataille des Cardinaux") in the sea battle in the Bay of Quiberon on November 20, 1759 , losing two (stranded) ships.

In the summer of 1795, the Bay of Quiberon was the scene of the Battle of Quiberon between troops of the First French Republic and an invading army of around 2,000 aristocratic refugees from the Revolution and former soldiers of the army of Louis XVI. ( Army of the emigrants ), accompanied by many family members. Together with around 5,000 rebellious Bretons, the Chouans , a new attempt at a royalist counter-revolution was to begin from Brittany. On the east bank of the peninsula, on July 17th, the troops of the republican general Lazare Hoche forced the main royalists to flee across the sea or to surrender after taking the Fort de Penthièvre . In fighting in the hinterland, other units of the emigrant army and the Chouans were defeated and dispersed. Insurgents who were captured armed were immediately executed by government orders. The field of martyrs ( champ des martyrs ) near Auray commemorates the mass execution of 952 emigrants and chouans.

The Auray – Quiberon railway was completed in 1882. Now the first celebrities came like the writers Gustave Flaubert and Anatole France , as well as the actress Sarah Bernhardt . In 1924 Quiberon was named a climatic health resort.

In 1944 the Anglo-American landing forces planned to build a supply port in the Bay of Quiberon. However, the idea was rejected.

The massive German fortifications of the Atlantic Wall and the continued resistance of the German soldiers (order: unconditional securing of the submarine port of Lorient) led to the curiosity that the remaining German troops (10,000 men) in the area from Lorient to Quiberon only two days after capitulated to the surrender of the Wehrmacht on May 10, 1945 ( Battle of Brittany ).

Quiberon was one of the filming locations for the four-part adventure game Treasure Island and for the feature film 3 Days in Quiberon . The actress Romy Schneider visited Quiberon several times in the 1970s and 1980s.

traffic

The peninsula can only be reached by a single road all year round, which is often overcrowded in summer. In the summer months, a train runs from Auray on the Auray – Quiberon railway on the single-track line (the so-called tire-bouchon = "corkscrew").

In the main port of Quiberon, Port Maria, is the sea station ( gare maritime ). Ferries start here, calling for the offshore islands Belle-Île , Île d'Houat (duck island) and Île d'Hœdic ("little duck").

From the east port of Port-Haliguen , excursion boats set off for tours through the Gulf of Morbihan ("little sea").