Page 166 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Brittany

164  BRIT T AN Y REGION B Y REGION

Street-by-Street: Quimper

Founded by Gauls on the site of the present Locmaria
district, downstream from the present city centre, the
town was later named Aquilonia (Town of Eagles) by
the Romans. For centuries, it was then known as
Quimper-Corentin, after Corentine, its first bishop.
The city stands at the confluence (kemper) of the Steir
and the Odet rivers. Rampart walks, project ing towers
and walls survive in the old town, although old timber- Musée Departemental Breton
framed houses now alternate with later mansions and Founded in 1846, the museum is
modern architecture. Recent building work has revealed housed in the bishops’ palace.
substantial remains of the medieval city. A M I R A L D E K E R G U É N L E N ODET

B O U L E VA R D

R U E D U R O I R U E D U PA R C
G R A D LO N

R U E D U F R O U T

P L AC E
. Cathédrale St-Corentin S A I N T -
Built in the 13th and 14th R U E D E CO R E N T I N
centuries, on the site of a L A M A I R I E
Roman temple, the cathedral
was later sumptuously
renovated (see pp168–9). R U E K É R É O N

R U E É L I E F R É R O N R U E D U G U É O D E T

R U E D E S B O U C H E R I E S

PL. AU BEURRE
R U E D U S A L L É

. Musée des R U E
René Laënnec Beaux-Arts D E S
This statue honours Built in 1872 by the Quimper G E N T I L S H O M M E S
the inventor of the architect Joseph Bigot, it
stethoscope, who contains collections of Flemish
died in 1826. and Italian paintings.
For hotels and restaurants see p227 and pp239–41

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