Mairie de Vannes

Promoted the capital of the Vénètes, the Gallo-Roman town establishes around a vast forum, which is the administrative and political centre of the whole territory.

At the end of the 3d century, a castrum is built which will become the basis of the Middle Ages fortified city.

Yet, it is a double city that develops then:
-one intra-muros around the Cathedral,
-one on the site of the Gallo-Roman city around the Saint-Patern church.

As soon as the fifth century, Vannes accommodates the bishop's palace. The development of buildings gives evidence of the urban revival during the 12th and the 13th centuries. The maintenance and expansion of the ramparts is one of the Breton Dukes' worry. A court of justice settles in the Cohue which is situated opposite the Cathedral.

After the Brittany succession wars, Jean IV decides to build there his château de l'Hermine. In Vannes in 1532, François I meets the Breton representatives to determine the union of Brittany to France. In 1675, the Brittany parliament has to leave Rennes for Vannes.

In the 19th century two elements generate a development of the urban fabric in a town that seemed to be at a standstill: the arrival of the railways in 1862 then the establishment of two artillery regiments which enabled an activity revival. Small industries and housing estates develop close to the railway station then to the Western neighbourhoods that then become residential. Many efforts are devoted from the Second Empire onwards to the construction of public buildings like the prefecture or the town hall. An important growth begins after the Second World War. In the 1960's and 1970's the creation of priority urbanization zones like Kercado and Menimur, the building of the Northern bypass deeply changed the urban influence that developed beyond the city boundaries. Yet Vannes has been able to protect and give importance to its ancient heart with the help of a protection plan which was approved in 1982.