Vannes

Vannes ; Gwened
region	Brittany
Department	Morbihan ( prefecture )
Arrondissement	Vannes
Canton	Vannes-1 , Vannes-2 , Vannes-3
Community association	Golfe du Morbihan - Vannes Agglomération
Coordinates	47 ° 39 ′ N , 2 ° 46 ′ W Coordinates: 47 ° 39 ′ N , 2 ° 46 ′ W
height	0-56 m
surface	32.30 km 2
Residents	53,352 (January 1, 2017)
Population density	1,652 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code	56000
INSEE code	56260
Website	http://www.mairie-vannes.fr
	; Old town

Vannes ( Breton Gwened ) is a French city with 53,352 inhabitants (as of January 1 2017) and the capital of the department Morbihan in the region of Brittany .

Vannes, castle and gardens

Vannes town hall with equestrian statue

The port of Vannes on the Gulf of Morbihan

geography

Vannes is just north of the coast of the Gulf of Morbihan . The river Marle flows through the city and later flows into the inland sea.

history

Vannes goes back to the Gallo - Roman city of Darioritum . In the year 560, Chlothar I defeated the army of the Breton Konomor , under whose protection Chlothar's son Chram had gone. Nominoë , Count of Vannes in the first half of the 9th century , is considered by some Bretons to be the first king of Brittany. In Vannes the independence of the Duchy of Brittany ended in 1532 with the meeting of the French King Francis I with the Breton estates . From 1675 Vannes was the seat of the Breton Parliament . In addition, the city has been the seat of a diocese since the 5th century .

From 1790 the city was the administrative seat of the canton of the same name. In 1982 she became chief lieu of Vannes Center , Vannes Ouest and Vannes Est through the division into three independent cantons .

From June 1940 Vannes was occupied by Wehrmacht troops. On August 1, 1944, the Battle of Brittany began . On August 6, troops of the 4th US Armored Division captured Vannes; the Resistance helped them .

Population development

year	1962	1968	1975	1982	1990	1999	2006	2017
Residents	30,411	36,576	40,359	42,178	45,644	51,759	53,079	53,352
Sources: Cassini and INSEE

traffic

Vannes is connected to the international trunk road network via the Europastraße 60 (N 165). The TGV trains on the Paris - Quimper ( TGV Atlantique ) line stop at Vannes station on the Savenay – Landerneau line . From 1902 to 1947, the Chemins de fer du Morbihan opened up the more rural regions of the department from Vannes .

The Vannes Airport is just regional importance.

Attractions

city wall

The entire cityscape is worth seeing, but especially the city wall and the wash house. A few kilometers away is the small town of Elven, which belongs to the municipality of Vannes. Here you will find a castle ruin that is well worth seeing, which is used as an open-air theater in summer.

Vannes Cathedral
The Château de l'Hermine : After his return from English exile in 1379, Duke Jean IV made Vannes his residence. He had a city wall built, with which he doubled the area of the city, as well as a castle, the Château de l'Hermine (ermine castle after his heraldic animal), and set up his court and the Council of State here. The estates (états) met here 19 times, the court of auditors had its seat here until 1491/99, as did the parliament , which moved to Nantes in 1533 . The current buildings date from 1795. They successively housed the Trésorerie Générale, the military school and the law faculty, and now the Institut culturel de Bretagne .

Château de l'Hermine

Larmor-Baden on the Golfe du Morbihan near Vannes

Place Maurice-Marchais : The town hall in the Italian Renaissance style (19th century) is a copy of the Hôtel de Ville in Paris. A small turret with carillon rises above the town hall clock in the front gable. On the north side of the square is the baroque chapel St-Yves (17th century) , which belongs to the former Jesuit college . Inside there is an altarpiece dedicated to the Jesuit founder Ignatius von Loyola , which is framed by black marble columns with Corinthian capitals.