Let me tell you more of the walled City or Ville Close of Concarneau, Plenty written on this marvel of architecture and history in the Finistére dept 29 of my lovely Bretagne and in my belle France. However, found me older pictures not yet in my blog and they should to post on wonderful Concarneau ! This is a nice town with a gorgeous ville close or enclosed old town in a fortress about 40 minutes by car from me on the expressway N165. These are my curiosities of Concarneau !!!
The ville close or enclosed town by excellence, the maritime city established on l’ïle de Conq or the large shell island was popular in the middle ages as it sits on the shortest itinerary between Quimper and Pont Aven. Occupied many times by the English, she submits to Du Guesclin in 1373. Vauban made modernised the fortifications of the city between 1692 and 1699. Facing the land, towers of artillery like Major (to the North) and the Governor (in the South) bordering the front entrance and the ravelin are reinforced by a liner of granite several meters thick in the 16C and 17C , The defense in depth, Vauban adapts a new gate with drawbridge and ditch behind the halfpipe. The side of the sea Vauban endows the enclosure of ducking doorways to the places best facing the entry pass of the tower of the Iron Horse or Tour du fer à cheval and facing the inner harbor the new tower or tour Neuve. In July 1695 Vauban himself as commander of upper and lower Brittany had delivered to Concarneau at the Château du Taureau of ammunition to put in a state of defense. The parapets are raised and drilled slots of shooting while a powder magazine and a new barrack were built in 1837. The ïle de Conq becomes at the end of the 19C a fueling station for the French mobile torpedo boats.
I have written plenty on it before in my blog but to recap the main points me think, The tour du Major, done in 1691 also called tour des munitions or ammunitations surrounded by figurines of breton origins and now shown totaly after excavations around the museum of fishing. The tour du gouverneur, the tour de la Fortune also call tour du masson, the origins remains a mystery, its one of the oldest part of the city. The tour Neuve or tour du moulin à poudré from the 19C, the Tour du Vin, or tour de la porte du vin, cylindrical form and not walled done around the 15C; Tour du passage also known as tour de Chambertin, Istim or Larrons dates from the 15C. The tour aux Chiens, also known as Tour du port or tour de l’essence, from the 16C. The tour le Fer à Cheval, also known as tour Eperon, it is from the 16C serve as battery canons in the 19C, it was found remains of an older tower from the 13C, it had three levels with the bottom one having a chimney and two Windows; The tour du Maure or moors, also known as tour du connétable done in 1753, still today not found why call like this.
After passing the tour and the maison du gouverneur or tower and the governor’s house on the place en demi lune or half-moon square, we reach the heart of the city through this door, on rue Vauban. On this square also sit the cannons of the frigate Vénus which was shipwrecked off Concarneau, near the island of Glénan.
The powder magazine of Concarneau is located in the walled town on the Place du Petit-Château, in the heart of the fortification of the walled town, it was built in 1835 to be able to store up to fifty-three barrels of gunpowder.
The maison du Gouverneur or Governor’s House (17C), this building leaning against the Governor’s tower serves as a house and an annex to the latter with which it communicates on two levels. No governor actually occupied this house, rented for a time to a carpenter. Today there are exhibits and expos shown here.
The former Saint-Guénolé church located in the Ville Close at Rue de l’église, would have been built in the 12C. In ruins, it was destroyed in 1830 to build a new church. The latter was itself transformed into a hospital in 1937, while the new parish church Saint-Coeur-de-Marie Church was built outside the walls of the closed town in 1912. The hospital was demolished in the 1980s and of the old church only remains its facade and its gable-tower.
The city of Concarneau on its history/heritage: https://www.concarneau.fr/ville/mairie/concarneau-55/histoire
The Concarneau tourist office on the Ville Close or enclosed city: https://www.deconcarneauapontaven.com/explorer/vacances-de-concarneau-a-pont-aven/visiter-concarneau/
The Finistére dept 29 tourist board on Concarneau: https://www.toutcommenceenfinistere.com/decouvrir-concarneau
The great sites of Vauban on Concarneau : http://www.sites-vauban.org/Concarneau
There you go again, folks, this is a dandy must visit City of Concarneau. You must come, it is really nice and we are so lucky to live close to it. There is lots to do in Concarneau but the Ville Close is definitively our favorite. Again, hope you enjoy the post as I.
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 