Vannes (in Breton Gwened) is a French commune located in the west
of France on the south coast of the Brittany region. The city,
located in Lower Brittany, is the prefecture of the Morbihan
department, and the seat of an agglomeration of 168,351 inhabitants.
Economic center and tourist destination at the head of an urban area
of 158,549 inhabitants on January 1, 2017, and a municipal
population of 53,218 inhabitants on January 1, 2016, Vannes is the
4th largest agglomeration in the Brittany region in terms of number
of inhabitants, and the 3rd university hub in Brittany.
The
city is built in an amphitheater at the bottom of the Gulf of
Morbihan; the old town is enclosed in its ramparts, grouped around
the cathedral of Saint-Pierre; it has been converted into a
pedestrian zone and offers shops installed in half-timbered houses,
also known as half-timbered.
After the war between the Veneti
and Caesar's legions, the Roman administration made Darioritum, the
ancient name of the city, the civitas of the Veneti at the end of
the 1st century BC during the reign of Augustus. The city welcomed
the bishopric and the Catholic religious orders in 465 during the
Council of Vannes. This council consecrates Patern, patron saint of
the city, founding saint of Brittany and the first attested bishop
of Vannes.
At the heart of a county which forms a border
area, the city was conquered in 578 by King Waroch II, who organized
Bro Waroch, a political space of which Vannes was the capital. Its
central position in southern Brittany gives Vannes and its political
and religious leaders a predominant role. The counts and bishops of
Vannes are key figures in the balance between Brittany and France.
City of Missus Nominoe, royal city of
Brittany at the end of the 1st millennium, Vannes became after the
War of the Brittany Succession the seat of ducal power. Theater of
the Union of Brittany in France in 1532, Vannes experienced an
exceptional religious boom during the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries before slipping into languor until the 1870s and the
installation of regiments. The post World War I marked the time of
change while the post World War II marked that of economic and
demographic growth.
Vannes, the city of the Venetians, is a
starting point for excursions to the famous “little sea”. As for the
medieval old town, grouped around its Saint-Pierre cathedral and
surrounded by ramparts, it is visited for its architectural
heritage. This district has many pedestrian streets overlooked by
very old half-timbered houses.
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 worth seeing, which is used as an open-air theater in summer.
Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Vannes: The cathedral was built in the
Gothic style on the site of an older Romanesque cathedral. Construction
began in the 15th century and continued into the 19th century. Only the
Romanesque bell tower from the 13th century, which was integrated into
the new building, is older.
Château de l'Hermine: Upon his return
from English exile in 1379, Duke Jean IV made Vannes his residence. He
had a city wall built, doubling 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 Parlement, which moved to Nantes in 1533. The
current buildings date from 1795. They have successively housed the
Trésorerie Générale, the military school and the law faculty, and now
the Institut culturel de Bretagne.
The Châteu is currently being
renovated and restored by the municipality of Vannes, together with
investors. The reopening is planned for the second half of 2025.
Place Maurice-Marchais: The town hall in Italian Renaissance style (19th
century) is a copy of the Hôtel de Ville in Paris. A small turret with a
carillon rises above the town hall clock in the front gable. On the
north side of the square is the baroque chapel of St-Yves (17th
century), which belongs to the former Jesuit college. Inside is an
altarpiece dedicated to the Jesuit founder Ignatius of Loyola, framed by
black marble columns with Corinthian capitals.
By train
TGV train station on the Paris (Gare de Montparnasse) -
Quimper line (direct connection).
Gare de Vannes (Vannes), Avenue
Favrel et Lincy . Train station (TGV) feature: free wifi.
In the
street
Vannes is connected to the trunk road network via the Route
Nationale 165 (European Route 60), which has been developed as an
expressway, which ends in Brest in the west and leads east to Nantes and
then merges into the A 11 autoroute. The city is also easily accessible
via Rennes (Autoroute A 81 and the expressways N 24 to Ploërmel and N
166.
Vannes is located on the northern shores of the Gulf of Morbihan, on
the Marle estuary in the south-center of the Armorican peninsula. The
city, located on the southern Breton coast between the Gulf of Morbihan
to the south and the Landes de Lanvaux to the north, is both by the sea
and inland, being 15 km from the Atlantic Ocean. towards the southwest.
Served by the RN 165, the Vannes agglomeration is located on an axis
which includes some of the largest agglomerations in Brittany: Brest,
Quimper, Lorient, Vannes and Nantes.
Vannes is located 400.7 km
west of Paris. The two airports offering regular flights to other French
cities are Nantes-Atlantique airport and Lorient-Bretagne-Sud airport.
By road, Vannes is 60 km from Lorient, 110 km from Rennes, Nantes, 120
km from Quimper and 460 km from Paris (five hours by motorway).
Vannes has developed around the historic center which is located at the
junction of three hills: the hill of Mené where the inner city walls are
located, the hill of Boismoreau where the Saint-Patern district is
located and the hill de la Garenne which hosts the hotel of the
prefecture, the gardens of the prefecture, the park of the Garenne as
well as the seat of the general council of Morbihan.
Porte Saint
Vincent, the main gateway to the old town, lies at the foot of the
marina, access to which is via a channel (south-north direction) of
1,500 meters which leads boats from the Kérino bridge to the afloat
basin.
All are located in the Gulf of Morbihan - Vannes Agglomeration community. At the southern end of the city, beyond the Marle estuary, is the island of Arz which hosts the town of the same name (254 inhabitants).
Located north of the Vannes estuary where the Marle, Vincin and Séné
rivers flow, the city is built at the bottom of the Gulf of Morbihan.
The gulf is classified among the closed bays, that is to say those which
communicate with the sea only by a narrow bottleneck. The gulf
experiences a disturbed tidal cycle, it is criss-crossed by currents and
counter-currents which alternate creating whirlpools and eddies. On the
other hand, the tidal range (maximum amplitude between high and low
tide) is lower inside than outside since the opening of the gulf is
small and the basin extended. This decrease in tidal range is noticeable
in the Gulf of Morbihan (110 km2 for an opening of 900 m). With a water
height of 4.5 m, the average tidal range is relatively low in Vannes.
With 5 m at Port-Navalo and 4.5 m at Vannes, the tidal range of the gulf
is very low compared to that of the open sea (about 8 m).
The
narrowness of the Port-Navalo narrows and the topographic configuration
of the gulf create some of the most violent currents on the French
coast. The most violent sea currents can reach 3.8 m/s (more than 13
km/h or 7 knots) in the Passe des Moutons, between Locmariaquer and
Port-Navalo during high coefficients (120).
The Gulf of Morbihan,
which is classified as a shellfish farming area, belongs to the Natura
2000 Network as a Special Conservation Area as a whole and as a Special
Protection Area for the Marle estuary, the national nature reserve of
the Séné marshes, the eastern part and the Pen an Toul marsh located
south of Baden. It is a site remarkable for the quality of its marine
environment and its high biological productivity. Marine mammals are
present there, for example the bottlenose dolphin and the otter. There
are also bats, including the Greater Bat, the Greater Horseshoe Bat and
the Lesser Horseshoe Bat.
Located on the southern coast of the Breton peninsula and on the
northern shores of the Gulf of Morbihan, the climate of Vannes is
influenced by the nearby Atlantic Ocean and benefits from an oceanic
climate. This climate is characterized by mild and rainy winters, and
cool and moderately humid summers, knowing that the maximum
precipitation occurs during the cold season. The average sunshine is
1779.7 h (climatological values, period 1991-2020).
The
Météo-France meteorological station installed in the town and in service
from 1995 to 2010 provides information on the evolution of
meteorological indicators. The detailed table for the period 1981-2010
is presented below.
From Antiquity, Daroritum was located on the Ocean Road, a Roman road linking Lyon to Brest. The capital of the Vénètes was an important crossroads from where six Roman roads converged, the first towards Locmariaquer, the second towards Hennebont, the third towards Corseul, with a branch on Carhaix, the fourth towards Rennes, the fifth towards Rieux, and the sixth towards Arzal, with branch to Port-Navalo.
Vannes is located on a crossroads between the motorway axis which
connects Nantes to Brest (RN 165) and the fast axis RN 166 towards
Ploërmel then RN 24 towards Rennes. Vannes is also located on the
European route 60 which connects Brest to Nantes.
The portion of
the RN 165 limited to 90 km/h, which begins at the level of the
municipality of Séné and ends shortly after the border which separates
Vannes from the municipality of Ploeren constitutes the ring road of
Vannes. The semi-circular ring road is located north of the city center
of Vannes and serves as a border between the two parts of the city. To
the west of the city, the ring road serves the two major commercial
areas: the ZC of Parc Lann to the north and the ZC of Kerlann to the
south. To the east, two exits lead to business areas: the Prat
industrial area to the south and the artisanal and commercial areas of
Pentaparc and Chapeau Rouge to the north. The “city center” exits are
located, on either side, at the level of the fire and rescue center and
the Vanocéa swimming pool.
In addition to the RN 165, a series of
urban roads serves as a ring road, making an almost complete tour of the
city.
Between 1988 and 2016, the Kerino bridge, located at the
mouth of the Marle, south of the marina, allowed vehicles to cross the
river. Since June 24, 2016, the Kerino tunnel has made it possible to no
longer interrupt vehicle traffic to let boats pass.
Vannes is a destination served by the Savenay - Landerneau line along
the southern coast of Brittany, which constitutes the bulk of the Nantes
- Brest relationship. A bus station, located in the immediate vicinity
of the railway station, makes it possible to reach the municipalities
not served by the railways, the maritime station of Vannes, the airport
of Vannes. From 2006 to 2009, the Vannes station underwent profound
transformations with the integration of a glass roof, upgrading to
standards for disabled people and development of the surrounding car
parks.
Intercités Hendaye - Quimper and Intercités de nuit Lyon -
Quimper trains serve the city's station, built in 1862. The city is also
served by lines 2 (Rennes-Quimper), 3 (Quimper-Nantes ), 12
(Vannes-Lorient), 19 (Redon-Vannes) and 27 (Saint-Brieuc-Vannes-Lorient)
of the TER Bretagne.
The TGV serves Vannes on the Paris - Quimper
line. From 2018, the Paris - Vannes route takes an average of 2.5 hours.
Vannes has a 54 km cycle network, the expansion and modernization of which is one of the objectives of the urban transport plan. In addition, Vannes was equipped, between June 2009 and June 2017, with a bike-sharing system called Vélocéo and managed by Transdev on behalf of the municipality, replaced in 2018 Vélocéo, a self-service bicycle system with electrical assistance.
Vannes has an airport located in the town of Monterblanc. The airport
of Vannes officially called "Airport of Vannes - Gulf of Morbihan", is
since January 2008 the property of the Gulf of Morbihan - Vannes
Agglomeration. The Vannes airport operating company (SEVA) has been
managing Vannes - Golfe du Morbihan airport since January 1, 2007. SEVA
is a subsidiary of the Canadian group SNC-Lavalin, which manages two
other airports in France.
The airport, which is for civil use,
open to national and international traffic (on request), has as its main
activities business aviation, tourist aviation and leisure aviation. The
airport is home to the Vannes flying club, the Gulf ULM club and the
Vannes skydiving school.
The city's urban and peri-urban public transport network, named
Kicéo, is operated by the Compagnie des Transports Golfe du Morbihan -
Vannes Agglomération (CGTMVA), a subsidiary company of the RATP Dev
group. The network is made up of 21 regular lines: 15 urban lines
(including one in the evening), 5 suburban lines, a city center shuttle
and an on-demand transport service. The network is organized "in a
star", where almost all the lines pass through the city center of
Vannes. The mobility organizing authority, responsible for the
development of public transport and its financing in Vannes and its
agglomeration is the Vannes-Golfe du Morbihan Agglomeration Community.
Vannes is also served by 7 bus lines of the BreizhGo network, the
interurban public transport service developed and financed by the
regional council of Brittany. Vannes has two bus stations, one located
at Place de la Liberation and the other near the train station.
Vannes is an urban municipality because it is one of the dense or
intermediate-density municipalities, within the meaning of the INSEE
municipal density grid. It belongs to the urban unit of Vannes, an
intra-departmental agglomeration grouping 4 municipalities and 79,795
inhabitants in 2017, of which it is the city-centre.
In addition,
the commune is part of the Vannes attraction area, of which it is the
central commune. This area, which includes 47 municipalities, is
categorized in areas with 50,000 to less than 200,000 inhabitants.
The town, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, is also a coastal town
within the meaning of the law of January 3, 1986, known as the coastal
law. Specific town planning provisions therefore apply there in order to
preserve natural areas, sites, landscapes and the ecological balance of
the coastline, such as the principle of non-constructibility, outside of
urbanized areas, on the coastal strip of 100 meters, or more if the
local urban plan provides for it.
A survey, the object of which is the census of the architectural
heritage of Vannes, has been carried out since 1997. This survey is the
result of a partnership between the State and the municipality of Vannes
and has enabled the census of the districts of the city.
The
notion of neighborhood takes on several meanings in Vannes. In common
parlance, a neighborhood designates an urban space with a common
architectural, social and functional identity. In addition, the setting
up of neighborhood councils was based on a new division of the
territorial space of Vannes.
In 2006, there were 29,176 dwellings in Vannes: 26,449 main
residences (i.e. 90.65% of all dwellings), 858 secondary residences
(i.e. 2.94%), 181 occasional dwellings (i.e. 0.6%) and 1,689 vacant
units (5.79%). Of all these dwellings, there are 9,566 individual
dwellings, or 32.78%, and 19,424 dwellings in a collective building, or
66.57%.
With regard to main residences, their time of completion
is established as follows for the year 2004. Of the 25,896 residences,
4,229 date from before 1949, representing a share of 16.33%; 8,392 date
from a period between 1949 and 1974, i.e. 32.40%; 5,840 main residences
date from 1975 to 1989, i.e. 22.55% and 7,435 date from 1990 to 2004,
i.e. 28.71%. Regarding the number of rooms in main residences in 2006,
3,006 have one, i.e. 11.37%, 5,020 have two, i.e. 18.98%, 5,280 have
three, i.e. 19.96% and 13,144 have four and more, i.e. a share of 49.7%.
The comfort of these main residences is not identical. Indeed, one
hundred and fourteen residences have no bathtub or shower, i.e. 0.43%i
6, 26,202 have central heating, i.e. nearly 99% of residences, while 247
do not have one, i.e. 1%, 17,240 have a garage or car park, i.e. 65.18%
In 2007, the price of real estate in Vannes exceeded that of Rennes:
the average price per square meter of old housing in Vannes (€2,342) is
significantly higher than that of Lorient (€1,606). The average price of
a new apartment in Vannes was around (€3,500/m2). The city center of
Vannes is the most expensive district, as for the districts located near
the Gulf, they are experiencing a regular increase in the price of
housing.
A quarter of buyers in Vannes are retirees and the city
has the particularity of having older buyers, 49 years old on average.
It can be noted that in 2007, 32% of buyers were not from Morbihan.
Among the non-Morbihannais, 9% come from Île-de-France and 6% from
Ille-et-Vilaine. The supply concerns 62% of transactions for 2 and 3
room apartments. The inhabitants of Île-de-France represent 25% of
buyers on the coast of the Gulf of Morbihan.
Many social housing
allocation organizations are present in the municipality. There are
public housing offices (OPH) such as the Municipal Public Office of HLM
Vannes Golfe Habitat or the departmental public office of Morbihan
Bretagne Sud Habitat.
Vannes is located on the northern shores of the Gulf of Morbihan, on
the Marle estuary in the south-center of the Armorican peninsula. The
city, located on the southern Breton coast between the Gulf of Morbihan
to the south and the Landes de Lanvaux to the north, is both by the sea
and inland, being 15 km from the Atlantic Ocean. towards the southwest.
Served by the RN 165, the Vannes agglomeration is located on an axis
which includes some of the largest agglomerations in Brittany: Brest,
Quimper, Lorient, Vannes and Nantes.
Vannes is located 400.7 km
west of Paris. The two airports offering regular flights to other French
cities are Nantes-Atlantique airport and Lorient-Bretagne-Sud airport.
By road, Vannes is 60 km from Lorient, 110 km from Rennes, Nantes, 120
km from Quimper and 460 km from Paris (five hours by motorway).
Vannes has developed around the historic center which is located at the
junction of three hills: the hill of Mené where the inner city walls are
located, the hill of Boismoreau where the Saint-Patern district is
located and the hill de la Garenne which hosts the hotel of the
prefecture, the gardens of the prefecture, the park of the Garenne as
well as the seat of the general council of Morbihan.
Porte Saint
Vincent, the main gateway to the old town, lies at the foot of the
marina, access to which is via a channel (south-north direction) of
1,500 meters which leads boats from the Kérino bridge to the afloat
basin.
Located north of the Vannes estuary where the Marle, Vincin and Séné
rivers flow, the city is built at the bottom of the Gulf of Morbihan.
The gulf is classified among the closed bays, that is to say those which
communicate with the sea only by a narrow bottleneck. The gulf
experiences a disturbed tidal cycle, it is criss-crossed by currents and
counter-currents which alternate creating whirlpools and eddies. On the
other hand, the tidal range (maximum amplitude between high and low
tide) is lower inside than outside since the opening of the gulf is
small and the basin extended. This decrease in tidal range is noticeable
in the Gulf of Morbihan (110 km2 for an opening of 900 m). With a water
height of 4.5 m, the average tidal range is relatively low in Vannes.
With 5 m at Port-Navalo and 4.5 m at Vannes, the tidal range of the gulf
is very low compared to that of the open sea (about 8 m).
The
narrowness of the Port-Navalo narrows and the topographic configuration
of the gulf create some of the most violent currents on the French
coast. The most violent sea currents can reach 3.8 m/s (more than 13
km/h or 7 knots) in the Passe des Moutons, between Locmariaquer and
Port-Navalo during high coefficients (120).
The Gulf of Morbihan,
which is classified as a shellfish farming area, belongs to the Natura
2000 Network as a Special Conservation Area as a whole and as a Special
Protection Area for the Marle estuary, the national nature reserve of
the Séné marshes, the eastern part and the Pen an Toul marsh located
south of Baden. It is a site remarkable for the quality of its marine
environment and its high biological productivity. Marine mammals are
present there, for example the bottlenose dolphin and the otter. There
are also bats, including the Greater Bat, the Greater Horseshoe Bat and
the Lesser Horseshoe Bat.
Located on the southern coast of the Breton peninsula and on the
northern shores of the Gulf of Morbihan, the climate of Vannes is
influenced by the nearby Atlantic Ocean and benefits from an oceanic
climate. This climate is characterized by mild and rainy winters, and
cool and moderately humid summers, knowing that the maximum
precipitation occurs during the cold season. The average sunshine is
1779.7 hours (climatological values, period 1991-2020).
The
Météo-France meteorological station installed in the town and in service
from 1995 to 2010 makes it possible to know the evolution of
meteorological indicators12. The detailed table for the period 1981-2010
is presented below.
From Antiquity, Daroritum was located on the Ocean Road, a Roman road linking Lyon to Brest. The capital of the Vénètes was an important crossroads from where six Roman roads converged, the first towards Locmariaquer, the second towards Hennebont, the third towards Corseul, with a branch on Carhaix, the fourth towards Rennes, the fifth towards Rieux, and the sixth towards Arzal, with branch to Port-Navalo.
Vannes is located on a crossroads between the motorway axis which
connects Nantes to Brest (RN 165) and the fast axis RN 166 towards
Ploërmel then RN 24 towards Rennes. Vannes is also located on the
European route 60 which connects Brest to Nantes.
The portion of
the RN 165 limited to 90 km/h, which begins at the level of the
municipality of Séné and ends shortly after the border which separates
Vannes from the municipality of Ploeren constitutes the ring road of
Vannes. The semi-circular ring road is located north of the city center
of Vannes and serves as a border between the two parts of the city. To
the west of the city, the ring road serves the two major commercial
areas: the ZC of Parc Lann to the north and the ZC of Kerlann to the
south. To the east, two exits lead to business areas: the Prat
industrial area to the south and the artisanal and commercial areas of
Pentaparc and Chapeau Rouge to the north. The “city center” exits are
located, on either side, at the level of the fire and rescue center and
the Vanocéa swimming pool.
In addition to the RN 165, a series of
urban roads serves as a ring road, making an almost complete tour of the
city.
Between 1988 and 2016, the Kerino bridge, located at the
mouth of the Marle, south of the marina, allowed vehicles to cross the
river. Since June 24, 2016, the Kerino tunnel has no longer interrupted
vehicle traffic to let boats pass.
Vannes is a destination served by the Savenay - Landerneau line along
the southern coast of Brittany, which constitutes the bulk of the Nantes
- Brest relationship. A bus station, located in the immediate vicinity
of the railway station, makes it possible to reach the municipalities
not served by the railways, the maritime station of Vannes, the airport
of Vannes. From 2006 to 2009, the Vannes station underwent profound
transformations with the integration of a glass roof, upgrading to
standards for disabled people and development of the surrounding car
parks.
Intercités Hendaye - Quimper and Intercités de nuit Lyon -
Quimper trains serve the city's station, built in 1862. The city is also
served by lines 2 (Rennes-Quimper), 3 (Quimper-Nantes ), 12
(Vannes-Lorient), 19 (Redon-Vannes) and 27 (Saint-Brieuc-Vannes-Lorient)
of the TER Bretagne.
The TGV serves Vannes on the Paris - Quimper
line. From 2018, the Paris - Vannes route takes an average of 2.5 hours.
Vannes has a 54 km cycle network. whose expansion and modernization is one of the objectives of the urban transport plan. In addition, Vannes was equipped, between June 2009 and June 2017, with a bike-sharing system called Vélocéo and managed by Transdev on behalf of the municipality, replaced in 2018 Vélocéo, a self-service bicycle system with electrical assistance. .
Vannes has an airport located in the town of Monterblanc. The airport
of Vannes officially called "Airport of Vannes - Gulf of Morbihan", is
since January 2008 the property of the Gulf of Morbihan - Vannes
Agglomeration. The Vannes airport operating company (SEVA) has been
managing Vannes - Golfe du Morbihan airport since January 1, 2007. SEVA
is a subsidiary of the Canadian group SNC-Lavalin, which manages two
other airports in France.
The airport which is for civil use,
open to national and international traffic (on request) has as its main
activities business aviation, tourist aviation and leisure aviation. The
airport is home to the Vannes flying club, the Gulf ULM club and the
Vannes skydiving school.
The city's urban and peri-urban public transport network, named
Kicéo, is operated by the Compagnie des Transports Golfe du Morbihan -
Vannes Agglomération (CGTMVA), a subsidiary company of the RATP Dev
group. The network is made up of 21 regular lines: 15 urban lines
(including one in the evening), 5 suburban lines, a city center shuttle
and an on-demand transport service. The network is organized "in a
star", where almost all the lines pass through the city center of
Vannes. The mobility organizing authority, responsible for the
development of public transport and its financing in Vannes and its
agglomeration is the Vannes-Golfe du Morbihan Agglomeration Community.
Vannes is also served by 7 bus lines of the BreizhGo network, the
interurban public transport service developed and financed by the
regional council of Brittany. Vannes has two bus stations, one located
at Place de la Liberation and the other near the train station.