The Place Maréchal Foch of Nantes !!

Posted in Bretagne, France

We have come quite often to Nantes, a City that needs to be visited more by all. A wonderful historical city with many monuments to see, many wonderful properties. I was again on my local road warrior mode and as bit not back, decided to give it a refresher to this must to visit City of Nantes, Loire-Atlantique dept 44 of the Pays de la Loire region,in my belle France ; even if old Bretagne! Do read my previous posts on the city as well, For now let me tell about the Place Maréchal Foch of Nantes !! Hope you enjoy the post as I

The Place Maréchal-Foch is one of Nantes’ best-known squares, an architectural ensemble designed in the 18C. The square sits on the edge of the Malakoff-Saint-Donatien district that borders it, Between the Cours Saint-Pierre and Cours Saint-André (see post). It is serves by the streets of L’Évêché, Chauvin, Tournefort, Sully, Maréchal-Joffre, Gambetta and Henri-IV.   The name of Ferdinand Foch, Marshal of France, has been given to this square since 1929. Called Place d’Armes until the First Empire (Napoléon Ier), it became place Louis-XVI under the Restoration (of monarchy 1814). The people of Nantes, especially those of native origin and especially among people of a certain age, still commonly use this name, much more spontaneously than that of Foch.

It hosts in its center the colonne Louis-XVI column, erected in 1790 as simply a column of Liberty, 28 meters high, it is surmounted since the Restoration by a statue of the monarch. Placed on a pedestal surmounted by the statue with Louis XVI as a Roman emperor holding in one hand the baton of command and in the other his will in the form of a scroll, It is one of the rare statues of Louis XVI still present in France in the public space  It was set up in 1823, Most depictions of Louis XVI are absent from public space in France. There are only four other statues of the former monarch in France.

Nantes colonne Louis-XVI pl mar Foch far mar24

On the Place Maréchal Foch, you can see the Hôtel Montaudouin, the Hôtel d’Aux, built in 1770, where Napoléon I and Josephine stayed in 1808, it became the headquarters of the 11th army corps under the French Third Republic, then that of the Feldkommandantur during WWII; the Hôtel de Charette (or Hôtel de Bruc), erected in 1824, headquartered the local services of the SD (National Socialist Party Security Service=nazis), which was identified by Nantes residents as those of the Gestapo from 1942 (date of the arrival of the Gestapo in Nantes) in 1944. Near the cathedral stands the Porte Saint-Pierre, (see post) a remnant of the medieval city walls.

Nantes hôtel du 11e Corps d'Armée front pl mar Foch former hôtel d'Aux mar24

The Heritage site of the city of Nantes on the column Louis XVI : https://patrimonia.nantes.fr/home/decouvrir/themes-et-quartiers/colonne-louis-xvi-1.html

There you go folks, do visit Nantes,and its wonderful monuments.  A must to visit while in the city ; see the Place Maréchal Foch of Nantes !! Again, hope you enjoy this post as I.

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!

Unknown's avatar

Published by pedmar10

I am a lover of travels to Europe , Americas , Africa and Asia as well ,who like to share my experiences of the last 53 years with the world, visiting so far 81 countries; living in 6, working in 5, and Citizen of 4, speaking fluently 4 languages. I can deal with sports especially football/soccer and love music, arts, wine collector/drinker, and go out to restaurants, and just visit the world. My background comes all the way from Candelaria and Pajara in Tenerife, Spain where my grandparents came from ;not knowing each other then, to Punta Brava, west of Havana, Cuba. There , my parents born in Cuba met and later on I was born there too. 100% guanche (annexed Tenerife to Spain on April 10 ,1496). I left Cuba as many have to Madrid, Spain where I lived for 4 years. Then, move to Perth Amboy ,New Jersey USA (living there 13 yrs) ; where I completed high school, became a US Citizen, learned to drive a car, and learned English. Afterward, went to the university in Florida, ERAU, and upon graduation decided to moved there to Ormond by the Sea, near Daytona Beach, finally moving North Miami, then Hialeah, then another moved to Silver Lakes division in Miramar, Broward county, Florida; in Florida I lived a total of 18 years. Finally , moved to France in 2003 ,Versailles call me for its royalty, and working in Paris was great. It was time to seek frontiers again and moved to Brech near Auray, Morbihan in Brittany , and later move to not too far Pluvigner. Total so far in France has been 20 years, and counting. Moving average a home every 5.5 years hopefully this will be my last. Cheers All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means or stored in a retrieval system of any nature, without the written permission of the copyright holder, me. No part of this work may be modified, without the written permission of the holder, me.No part of this work may be exposed to public view in any form or by any means, without identifying the holder as the author, and with the before mentioned permission.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.