Prefecture of Finistère
Population: 64,530 - 100,000 for the Quimper Bretagne Occidentale Conurbation Community (14 communes)
Personalities: Max Jacob writer and painter (born in Quimper, died in the Drancy camp), René Laennec (doctor, inventor of the stethoscope), Pierre Jakez Hélias, author of Cheval d'Orgueil, Julien Gracq, Alexandre Mass (born in Quimper in 1829) inventor of the 4-hole button for a better fit. Sailors: Michel Desjoyaux, Roland Jourdain, Bertrand de Broc, Eric Tabarly lived 20 km away. Cyclists: Ronan Pensec, Laurent Pichon (Fortuneo - Oscaro team), winner of the Coupe de France 2016. Pascal Jaouen, embroiderer and designer, founded the Quimper School of Art Embroidery.
Specialities: Quimper earthenware, hand-painted for over three centuries. Galettes, crêpes dentelles, far breton, cider, torchettes (almond galettes).
Events and festivals: Departmental Breton Museum in the former Palace of the Cornouaille Bishops (15th-16th century). The Fine Arts Museum in a small Italian-style palace is one of the richest in Brittany. Earthenware Museum. Cornwall Theatre (Scène Nationale). Max Jacob Theatre. Quai Dupleix, cinema complex in the town - Novomax (arts centre dedicated to contemporary music). Seven bagadoùs, including Bagad Kemper, one of the best Breton bagads to have won numerous awards: 1,000 pipers, bombarders and drummers and five Celtic circles: dancers in costume, including the Eostiged ar Stangala (the Stangala nightingales), 70 years old in 2018 and performing all over the world. April: Insolent Festival (contemporary music - 21st edition in 2018). July: Cornwall Festival: traditional dances and songs (300,000 spectators - 95th edition in 2018). August: Music weeks (classical) in and around the castle for over 30 years. November: New School Hip Hop Festival with an international reputation for ten years. December: TATA Festival (Theatre for All Ages)
Sport: over 16,000 members in 106 associations. Union Jeanne d'Arc Phalange Quimper (basketball, Pro B) - Quimper Volley 29 (women's Ligue A) - UJAP Basket in Pro B - Rugby in N 3 - Abel Floch Velodrome. March: Locronan-Quimper half-marathon and Plogonnec-Quimper 10km. May: since the Tour de France came to town in 1991, the association "Tout Quimper à vélo" has continued to organise the P'tit Tour de France: cycling events for 800 children. June: La Sporbreizh. Cycling clubs: Vélo Sport Quimpérois, the oldest sports club, celebrates its 120th anniversary in 2018 with a cycling school. Quimper Cornouailles Gran Fondo. Quimper VTT
Economy: Sectors of excellence: agri-food, innovation, digital, maritime. Saupiquet (canned food) - Entremont (dairy products producer, nearly 300 employees). Père Dodu (ready meals). Monique Ranou (charcuterie). Cafés Coïc (coffee roasting - importer). Germicopa (creation of new potato varieties). ACT Food Bretagne (cluster bringing together all the technical centres in Brittany). Adria Développement (agri-food research). Armor Lux (clothing - 400 employees). Cummins (engine filters - 300 employees). Bolloré Technologie (Blue car = Autolib, electric bus batteries, 7 to 800 employees). Verlingue insurance broker (700 employees). Faïencerie Henriot (the last of its kind - twenty employees). Tourism: Brittany's second busiest tourist office. Hospital (largest employer: 2,500 employees). Branch of the Université de Bretagne Occidentale (5,000 students): law, economics, heritage, transport, logistics, LUBEN (agri-food research), IFRIA (sandwich course for engineers).
Websites: www.quimper.bzh www.quimper-bretagne-occidentale.bzh www.quimper-tourisme.bzh
Facebook: @VilledeQuimper
Twitter: villedequimper
#TDFQuimper
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QUIMPER AND CYCLING
In 2018: when the men's Tour last visited the town, it was Peter Sagan who took the second of his three stage victories in an edition in which he would go on to win the Green Jersey.
First appearance: the prefecture of Finistère first appeared on the map of the men's Tour 60 years ago, for the start of a stage won in Saint-Nazaire by André Darrigade.
Notable winners: Phil Anderson, Thor Hushovd (2004), Tom Simpson (1959).
Local champions: Titia Ryo (French junior champion 2022, Arkea-B&B Hotels), Laurent Pichon (three Tours de France, now sports director), Pierre Cloarec (winner of two stages in 1939).
SIGHTS
Saint Corentin Cathedral
Built: 13th century
Style: Gothic
History: in 1239, Bishop Raynaud decided to build the present-day cathedral on the foundations of an earlier Romanesque cathedral. In 1410, the choir vaults were completed, and the glass windows in the upper windows were installed. In 1424, Bishop Bertrand de Rosmadec undertook the construction of the nave and the two towers on the façade. From the 1850s onwards, the architect Joseph Bigot undertook the restoration of this masterpiece of Breton Gothic art, principally the decoration of the chapels and the commissioning of new stained glass windows that had been destroyed during the Revolution. His most spectacular achievement was the completion of the two towers and the construction of the spires between 1854 and 1856, financed by the people of Quimper. Between 1989 and 1999, restoration work revealed how the cathedral looked at the end of the 15th century, with the restoration of the interior polychromy.
Trivia: according to legend, Saint Corentin was a hermit who fed King Gradlon's entire troop, lost in the woods, on a single small fish. As a reward, the king made him his bishop.
Listed as: historic monument in 1862
Locmaria, the original site of Quimper, Town of Art and History
The Locmaria district is located on the left bank of the Odet, south of the walled city and Saint Corentin cathedral. With the arrival of the Quimper earthenware industry, the working-class character of the district became more pronounced, and Locmaria became a working-class district with numerous small houses and hovels, a church (11th and 12th centuries) and a priory (17th and 18th centuries) that was home to a community of Benedictine nuns. Locmaria Abbey is the oldest Christian settlement in the town. The abbey church of Notre Dame is a perfect example of early Romanesque art in Brittany.
Breton departmental museum
Construction: Cornouaille Bishops' Palace, 16th century
Style: Renaissance
Museum opening: 1911
Features: since 1911, the Breton Departmental Museum has been housed in the Cornouaille Bishops' Palace, the most remarkable monument in Quimper after the cathedral. Two wings frame the Tower, built for Claude De Rohan (1507), one of the finest examples of Renaissance architecture in Brittany. From 1860-1870, he was one of the first in France to take an interest in regional ethnography and folk art. The collection that began at that time, and continues to this day, makes this museum the main repository for the history, ethnography and regional arts of Finistère.
Listed as: historic monument in 1921
Quimper Fine Arts Museum
Built: 1872
History and characteristics: located on the cathedral square, the Museum of Fine Arts has been housed since 1872 in a classical palace designed by Cornish architect Joseph Bigot, who also designed the spires of the cathedral. The museum's interior architecture was completely redesigned in 1993 by Jean-Paul Philippon, who also worked on the Orsay Museum and La Piscine in Roubaix. The identical reconstruction of the grand décor created in 1906/1909 by Jean-Julien Lemordant for the Hôtel de l'Épée in Quimper now forms the heart of the museum, around which the major permanent collections (24 rooms) are displayed. A temporary exhibition room, an audiovisual room, an educational service room and a shop complete the ensemble.
www.mbaq.fr
Earthenware Museum
Quimper has been producing earthenware since 1690, when Jean-Baptiste Bousquet, an earthenware manufacturer from Marseille, arrived in the town. Since then, two faience manufacturers have been vying for the public's attention: Hubaudière-Bousquet and Henriot-Quimper. The Musée de la faïence covers an exhibition area of 500 m2 on two levels, with 124 display modules spread over eight rooms, giving visitors a chance to discover the many facets of a little-known Quimper. An exhibition of 500 pieces, some of which are unique, is regularly renewed thanks to a collection of more than 2,000 works of religious and historical inspiration, scenes from everyday life and abstract drawings, all set in this noble and beautiful material. The Henriot-Quimper earthenware factory can also be visited in the Locmaria district.
TO EAT
Torchettes and kouignettes
Quimper pastry chef Georges Larnicol, who now works all over France, popularised the "torchettes" invented over thirty years ago. Born in 1985 by a happy coincidence, the Torchette® quickly became the energising biscuit for windsurfers at the Pointe de la Torche in Brittany, hence its name.
This crispy cake is made with almonds, hazelnuts, raisins, seaweed and a touch of rum. It contains no butter or egg yolk. Georges Larnicol also registered the "kouignettes", derived from the kouign-amann invented in 1860 by Yves-René Scordia, a baker from Douarnenez. Kouign means sweet bread and amann means butter.
