Vannes Gwened
Montage of Vannes
Vannes
Location within Brittany region  Vannes
Administration
Country	France
Region	Brittany
Department	Morbihan
Arrondissement	Vannes
Intercommunality	Pays de Vannes
Mayor	François Goulard (2008–2014)
Statistics
Elevation	0–56 m (0–184 ft) (avg. 22 m or 72 ft)
Land area1	32.3 km2 (12.5 sq mi)
Population2	51,759  (1999)
- Density	1,602 /km2 (4,150 /sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	56260/ 56000
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Coordinates: 47°39′21″N 2°45′37″W / 47.6559°N 2.7603°W / 47.6559; -2.7603

Vannes (French pronunciation: [van]; Breton: Gwened) is a commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France. It was founded over 2000 years ago.^[1]

Geography[link]

Vannes is located on the Gulf of Morbihan at the mouth of two rivers, the Marle and the Vincin. It is around 100 km northwest of Nantes and 450 km south west of Paris. Vannes is a market town and often linked to the sea.

History[link]

The name Vannes comes from the Veneti, a seafaring Celtic people who lived in the south-western part of Armorica in Gaul before the Roman invasions. The Veneti were defeated by Julius Caesar's fleet in 56 BC in front of Locmariaquer; all the Veneti were then either slaughtered or sold into slavery. The Romans settled a town called Darioritum (the romanized Gaulish name of Vannes) in a location previously belonging to the Veneti.

The diocese of Vannes was erected in the 5th century. The Council of Vannes was held there in 461.

The first historical ruler of Vannes was Waroch.

In 1759 Vannes was used as the staging point for a planned French invasion of Britain. A large army was assembled there, but it was never able to sail following the French naval defeat at the Battle of Quiberon Bay in November 1759.

In 1795, during the French Revolution, French forces based in Vannes successfully repelled a planned British-Royalist invasion.

Population[link]

Inhabitants of Vannes are called Vannetais.

Breton language[link]

The municipality launched a linguistic plan through Ya d'ar brezhoneg on 12 October 2007.

In 2008, 7.71% of the children attended the bilingual schools in primary education.^[2]

Transport[link]

Train
The Gare de Vannes railway station offers connections to Quimper, Rennes, Nantes, Paris and several regional destinations.
With the fast train TGV, the journey takes:
– 30 minutes to Lorient,
– 1 hour to Nantes or Rennes,
– 3.5 to 4 hours to Paris.
The TER (Transport Express Regional) is a slower train to join railway stations in the close neighborhood, as Auray or Questembert.
There is no direct railway from Vannes to Saint Brieuc (70 miles away in the north of Brittany), so the train from Vannes to Saint Brieuc goes via Rennes, which doubles the travel time and cost: it takes 2 to 3 hours to go from Vannes to Saint Brieuc by train.

Car
Two highways, in the north of Vannes, provide fast connections by car:
– N165: drive west to Lorient (35 miles) and Quimper (75 miles), south east to Nantes (70 miles)
– N166: drive north east to Rennes (70 miles)
+ a network of small roads connects Vannes to smaller cities. There is no highway from Vannes to Saint Brieuc, so the way to northern Brittany consists of small roads. The lack of highway or railway between Vannes and Saint Brieuc (70 miles north) cuts the communications between northern and southern Brittany, and limits Brittany economic performance.

Airplanes
Vannes has a small airfield in the village of Monterblanc, called Vannes-Meucon airport, or "Vannes – Golfe du Morbihan airport". It used to be a military airport, but it is now dedicated to business and tourism aircraft. It belongs to Vannes Agglomeration community, the group of cities gathered around Vannes, and the main users of this airfield are Vannes flying club, the local ultralight aviation club and Vannes school of skydiving.

Bus
There are 2 bus networks in Vannes: – Transport du Pays de Vannes, proposes short travels starting from Vannes Place de la Liberation on behalf of Vannes Agglomeration community,
– CAT, propose longer travel starting from the railway station on behalf of Morbihan.
So there are 2 central bus stations in Vannes: one on Place de la Libération, the other at the railway station.

Bike
Vannes city has a public bicycle rental program, called Velocea, based on the same idea as Paris Velib'. Hundreds of bicycles are available in 20 automated rental stations each with 10 to fifteen bikes/spaces. Each Velocea service station is equipped with an automatic rental terminal and stands for bicycles. The bicycles are robust and heavy (lbs 40), and the user can take a bike in any station, and let it in any station, for a cost as: free the first 30 minutes, 1 euro the second 30 minutes, 2 euros per hour.

Monuments and sights[link]

City walls of Vannes

"Vannes and his wife"

• Cathedral of St Peter, gothic cathedral
• Church of St Patern, classic church
• Chapel of Saint-Yves, baroque church
• Château Gaillard (medieval house now used as an archaeological museum)
• Musée de la Cohue (fine arts museum)
• Hôtel de Ville
• Old city walls, which include :
  • Tour du Connétable (a large medieval tower part of the old city walls)
  • Château de l'Hermine (former castle, transformed into a palace in the 17th century)
  • Porte Calmont, medieval city gate
  • Porte Prison, medieval city gate
  • Porte Poterne, medieval city gate
  • Porte Saint-Jean, medieval city gate
• Porte Saint-Vincent, 18th century city gate
• Many timber-framed houses in the old town
• "Vannes and his wife", a funny painted granite sculpture date XV century in front of Château Gaillard
• The harbour

In fiction[link]

• In the last of the Three Musketeers novels of Alexandre Dumas, The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later, published in 1847, the musketeer Aramis appears as bishop of Vannes before becoming General of the Society of Jesus.
• In Sebastien Roch, a novel from Octave Mirbeau published in 1890, Sebastien is sent to a school in Vannes, Saint-François-Xavier, where he is victim of sexual abuse.
• In Sir Nigel, a novel from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published in 1906, Nigel is made seneschal of the Castle of Vannes after a battle in Brittany. He doesn't remain in Vannes, since after winning in another battle, the Black Prince dubs him a knight and Nigel returns to England to wed the Lady Mary.
• Jean-François Parot has written series of crime fictions printed up to 2010 taking place in the eighteenth century, whose main character is Nicolas Le Floch, a Police Commissioner who was also educated in the school of Saint François-Xavier in Vannes, but he didn't share Sebastien Roch's misfortune. Nicolas Le Floch novels have been adapted as television series.

Notable people[link]

Vannes was the birthplace of:

• Albinus of Angers (born 469), Roman Catholic saint
• Saint Emilion (Emilianus) (?-767), monk and Roman Catholic saint, he gave his name to one of the main red wine areas of Bordeaux
• Francis I (1414–1450), duke of Brittany
• Louis-Marie Autissier (1772–1830), painter
• Louise Bourgoin (1981-), actress
• Gabriel Fabre (1774–1858), general of the First French Empire
• Pierre de La Gorce (1846–1934), historian
• Paul César Helleu (1859–1927), painter
• Émile Jourdan (1860–1931), painter of Pont-Aven School
• Delly (alias Frédéric Petitjean de la Rosière) (1876–1949), novel writer with his sister Jeanne-Marie
• Alain de Goué (1879–1918), historian
• Alphonse Barbé (1885–1983), journalist and anarchist
• Louis Martin-Chauffier (1894–1980), writer, journalist and member of the French Resistance
• Yves Rocard (1903–1992), physicist
• Colonel Remy (alias Gilbert Renault) (1904–1984), secret agent of the French Resistance
• Alain Resnais (born 1922), film director
• Yves Coppens (born 1934), paleontologist
• Serge Latouche (born 1940), economist
• Jacques Ramouillet (born 1941), mountaineer
• Claude-Michel Schönberg, (born 1944), singer and song writer
• Bernard Poignant (born 1945), French politician
• Hélène de Fougerolles (born 1973), actress
• Mathieu Berson (born 1980), footballer
• Louise Bourgoin (born 1981), actress
• Joris Marveaux footballer
• Sylvain Marveaux footballer

Panorama of the old town

• Yann Kermorgant footballer

International relations[link]

Twin towns – Sister cities[link]

Vannes is twinned with:

• Mons, Belgium (since 1952)
• Cuxhaven, Germany (since 1963)
• Fareham, United Kingdom (since 1967)

Vannes also has partnerships (‘partenariats’) with:

• Barouéli, Mali
• Wałbrzych, Poland

See also[link]

Brittany portal

• Veneti (Gaul)
• Saint Meriasek
• Operation Dingson
• Communes of the Morbihan department

Gallery[link]

References[link]

Notes

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Vannes

• (French) Official web site of the city
• Vannes travel guide from Wikitravel
• (French) French Ministry of Culture list for Vannes

v t e Communes of the Morbihan department Allaire Ambon Arradon Arzal Arzon Augan Auray Baden Bangor Baud Béganne Beignon Belz Berné Berric Bieuzy Bignan Billiers Billio Bohal Bono Brandérion Brandivy Brech Bréhan Brignac Bubry Buléon Caden Calan Camoël Camors Campénéac Carentoir Carnac Caro Caudan La Chapelle-Caro La Chapelle-Gaceline La Chapelle-Neuve Cléguer Cléguérec Colpo Concoret Cournon Le Cours Crac'h Crédin Le Croisty Croixanvec La Croix-Helléan Cruguel Damgan Elven Erdeven Étel Évriguet Le Faouët Férel Les Forges Les Fougerêts La Gacilly Gâvres Gestel Glénac Gourhel Gourin Grand-Champ La Grée-Saint-Laurent Groix Guégon Guéhenno Gueltas Guémené-sur-Scorff Guénin Guer Guern Le Guerno Guidel Guillac Guilliers Guiscriff Helléan Hennebont Le Hézo Hoëdic Houat Île-aux-Moines Île-d'Arz Inguiniel Inzinzac-Lochrist Josselin Kerfourn Kergrist Kernascléden Kervignac Landaul Landévant Lanester Langoëlan Langonnet Languidic Lanouée Lantillac Lanvaudan Lanvénégen Larmor-Baden Larmor-Plage Larré Lauzach Lignol Limerzel Lizio Locmalo Locmaria Locmaria-Grand-Champ Locmariaquer Locminé Locmiquélic Locoal-Mendon Locqueltas Lorient Loyat Malansac Malestroit Malguénac Marzan Mauron Melrand Ménéac Merlevenez Meslan Meucon Missiriac Mohon Molac Monteneuf Monterblanc Monterrein Montertelot Moréac Moustoir-Ac Moustoir-Remungol Muzillac Naizin Néant-sur-Yvel Neulliac Nivillac Nostang Noyal-Muzillac Noyal-Pontivy Noyalo Le Palais Péaule Peillac Pénestin Persquen Plaudren Plescop Pleucadeuc Pleugriffet Ploemel Ploemeur Ploërdut Ploeren Ploërmel Plouay Plougoumelen Plouharnel Plouhinec Plouray Pluherlin Plumelec Pluméliau Plumelin Plumergat Pluneret Pluvigner Pontivy Pont-Scorff Porcaro Port-Louis Priziac Quelneuc Questembert Quéven Quiberon Quily Quistinic Radenac Réguiny Réminiac Remungol Riantec Rieux La Roche-Bernard Rochefort-en-Terre Le Roc-Saint-André Rohan Roudouallec Ruffiac Le Saint Saint-Abraham Saint-Aignan Saint-Allouestre Saint-Armel Saint-Avé Saint-Barthélemy Saint-Brieuc-de-Mauron Saint-Caradec-Trégomel Saint-Congard Saint-Dolay Sainte-Anne-d'Auray Sainte-Brigitte Sainte-Hélène Saint-Gérand Saint-Gildas-de-Rhuys Saint-Gonnery Saint-Gorgon Saint-Gravé Saint-Guyomard Saint-Jacut-les-Pins Saint-Jean-Brévelay Saint-Jean-la-Poterie Saint-Laurent-sur-Oust Saint-Léry Saint-Malo-de-Beignon Saint-Malo-des-Trois-Fontaines Saint-Marcel Saint-Martin-sur-Oust Saint-Nicolas-du-Tertre Saint-Nolff Saint-Perreux Saint-Philibert Saint-Pierre-Quiberon Saint-Servant Saint-Thuriau Saint-Tugdual Saint-Vincent-sur-Oust Sarzeau Sauzon Séglien Séné Sérent Silfiac Le Sourn Sulniac Surzur Taupont Théhillac Theix Le Tour-du-Parc Tréal Trédion Treffléan Tréhorenteuc La Trinité-Porhoët La Trinité-sur-Mer La Trinité-Surzur Vannes La Vraie-Croix

Laurent Ruquier
Laurent Ruquier in 2000
Born	(1963-02-24)February 24, 1963 Le Havre, France
Nationality	French
Occupation	journalist, satirical comedian, columnist, radio & TV presenter, lyricist, author, screenwriter, impresario. He 's also the inventor of the concept "Rourout", A French tradition for Chandeleur.

Laurent Ruquier, born February 24, 1963 in Le Havre (Seine-Maritime), Normandy, France is a popular French journalist, satirical comedian, and TV and radio host. He is also a columnist, lyricist, author, screenwriter, and impresario.

Biography[link]

Ruquier grew up in a large family of modest means. His father was a locally-based construction worker, and his mother, a housewife.^[1] A happy child, Ruquier breezed through school and entertained his classmates with his very first attempts at satire in the school newspaper.

Career[link]

This section may require copy-editing.

In french television and radio[link]

List of its programs:

• Rien à cirer "We (I) Don't Care", on France 2, 1994,television adaptation of his radio programm
• Les Niouzes "News", on TF1, 1995
• Un an de plus "One more year", on Canal+, 1999/2000, with Marc-Olivier Fogiel
• On a tout essayé "We tried everything", on France 2, 2000/2007
• Ça balance à Paris "This hesitates in Paris", on Paris Première, 2005/2006
• On n'a pas tout dit "We didn't say our last word", on France 2, 2007/2008
• On va s'gêner "We are goin to step on toes"on France 4, 2010, television adaptation of his radio programm

Now:

• On n'est pas couché "We're not in bed", on France 2, since 2006
• On a tout révisé "We have revised everything", on France 2, since 2009
• On n'demande qu'à en rire "We just need a laugh", on France 2, since 2010

In september 2000, Thierry Ardisson and Catherine Barma offer him to enliven On a tout essayé "We tried everything" on France 2 in second evening party, every other Tuesday. In 2001, his talk show received a 7 d'or in the category "Better comedy show". In front of success of the programm, France 2 offers him, in september 2001, to pass in daily between 7 pm and 8 pm. With him, there is notably Philippe Geluck, Peri Cochin, Isabelle Alonso, Caroline Diament, Christophe Alévêque, Elsa Fayer, Annie Lemoine, Steevy Boulay, Pierre Bénichou, Florence Foresti... From september 2007 to july 2008, he enliven On n'a pas tout dit "We haven't said everything", a daily talk show which replaced On a tout essayé.

For 1999, Ruquier also enliven a talk show On va s'gêner on the Europe 1 radio station. During than more two hours he comments the actuality with chroniclers' band among whom Philippe Geluck, Gérard Miller, Isabel Alonso, Pierre Bénichou, Claude Sarraute, Fabrice Éboué, Christophe Alévêque, Steevy Boulay, Jean-Luke Lemoine, Peri Cochin, Valérie Mairesse, Christine Bravo, Patrice Leconte, Christine Ockrent, Isabelle Motrot, Monica Pantel for rubric cinema, Serge Llado for rubrics "Endless Musics" could make their appearance Arno Klarsfeld, Valérie Payet, Bernard Rapp, Jacques Martin, Jean Yanne, Philippe Bouvard himself, between his dismissal and its return in RTL, Pierre Palmade there... The programm celebrates his ten years on October 21, 2009 during one special and free three-hour party in the Olympia (Paris) and broadcast on Europe 1 and France 4. Chroniclers having participated in program since her création were present. In february 2010, he enliven a television adaptation of his radio programm monthly on France 4. He stopped his programm in december 2011.

For 2006, he currently presents the weekly talk show On n'est pas couché "We're not yet in bed", which airs on Saturday nights. Eric Zemmour and at first Michel Polac then Eric Naulleau, criticisms, manage the political and literary party. In may 2011 he announces a modification of his team, he decides to replace both polemicists Eric Zemmour and Eric Naulleau by two women, Natacha Polony and Audrey Pulvar. Besides this change, Jonathan Lambert stop his collaboration with the programm, and the honest dramatist Nicolas Bedos, arrive on the team.

For december 2009, he enliven On a tout révisé "We have reviewed everything", with all its band.

For september 2010, he presents a new program, On n'demande qu'à en rire "We just want to laugh at it". During the programm, humorists (solos, duoes, trios, etc.) not much known by the general public, professionals or amateurs, can occur the time sketch on the tray of l 'émission. Every sketch is written by the candidate (with or without authors) in function of the chosen topic of actuality a few days before the recording of the programm, among a list of subjects. Since March 15, 2011, humorists members (having made more than 10 passages) cant have the choice among the list of subjects, topic is imposed on them by Laurent Ruquier. At the beginning, jury was composed of Laurent Ruquier, two guests having a cultural actuality and member of the "Ruquier's Band", the last three jurors changed then every jour. À leave of October 18, 2010, suite notably to passage as juror of Chantal Goya who according to him « didn't played the game », Laurent Ruquier decided to replace this jury « temporary » by a jury « recurrent » composed of himself and three specialists of the world of show. Now there are: Jean Benguigui, Isabelle Mergault, Catherine Barma, Patrice Leconte, Michèle Bernier, Eric Metayer, Jean-Luc Moreau, Philippe Gildas and Virginie Lemoine.

One-man-shows and theatre[link]

From 1997 till 2000, he goes up on boardwalk with two shows accomplished by the unknown Pascal Légitimus and the products by only to laugh: "Finally nice" and "Still nice". In this opportunity, it makes its coming out and reveals its homosexuality.

List of its plays:

• 2003: La presse est unanime, "The press is unanimous"
• 2004: Grosse chaleur, "Heat wave"
• 2005: Et si c'était à refaire, "If I had to do it again"
• 2008: Open bed
• 2008: J'me voyais déjà, "I have already seen myself"
• 2011: Parce que je la vole bien, "Because I steal her well! "

Notes[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Laurent Ruquier

2. Ruquier's band http://www.labandearuquier.com/