Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

in northwestern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

at the confluence of the

Ille The Ille (; br, Il) is a small river in Brittany, France, right tributary of the river Vilaine. It is long. It flows into the Vilaine in the city Rennes. The Ille is linked to the river Rance by the Canal d'Ille-et-Rance. By this canal, Ren ...

and the

Vilaine The Vilaine (; br, Gwilen) is a river in Brittany, in the west of France. The river's source is in the Mayenne ''département'' (53), and it flows out into the Atlantic Ocean at Pénestin in the Morbihan ''département'' (56). It is 218 km ...

. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the

Ille-et-Vilaine Ille-et-Vilaine (; br, Il-ha-Gwilen) is a department of France, located in the region of Brittany in the northwest of the country. It is named after the two rivers of the Ille and the Vilaine. It had a population of 1,079,498 in 2019.

department. In 2017, the

urban area An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities ...

had a population of 357,327 inhabitants, and the larger metropolitan area had 739,974 inhabitants.Comparateur de territoire Unité urbaine 2020 de Rennes (35701), Aire d'attraction des villes 2020 de Rennes (013)
INSEE The inhabitants of Rennes are called Rennais/Rennaises in French. Rennes's history goes back more than 2,000 years, at a time when it was a small Gallic village named Condate. Together with Vannes and Nantes, it was one of the major cities of the ancient

Duchy of Brittany The Duchy of Brittany ( br, Dugelezh Breizh, ; french: Duché de Bretagne) was a medieval feudal state that existed between approximately 939 and 1547. Its territory covered the northwestern peninsula of Europe, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean t ...

. From the early sixteenth century until the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

, Rennes was a parliamentary, administrative and garrison city of the historic province of

of the

Kingdom of France The Kingdom of France ( fro, Reaume de France; frm, Royaulme de France; french: link=yes, Royaume de France) is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the medieval and early modern period ...

as evidenced by its 17th century Parliament's Palace. Rennes played an important role in the Stamped Paper Revolt in 1675. After the destructive fire of 1720, the medieval wooden center of the city was partially rebuilt in stone. Remaining mostly

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are descri ...

until the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, Rennes really developed in the twentieth century. Since the 1950s, Rennes has grown in importance through rural flight and its modern industrial development, partly automotive. The city developed extensive building plans to accommodate upwards of 200,000 inhabitants. During the 1980s, Rennes became one of the main centres in

telecommunication Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

and high technology industry. It is now a significant digital innovation centre in France. In 2002, Rennes became the smallest city in the world to have a Metro line. Labeled a city of art and history, it has preserved an important

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

and classical heritage within its historic center with over 90 buildings protected as historic monuments. With more than 66,000 students in 2016, it is also the eighth-largest university campus of France. In 2018, '' L'Express'' named Rennes as "the most liveable city in France".

History

Administration

Since 2015, Rennes is divided into 6 cantons (populations as of 2019): * Canton of Rennes-1 (40,588 inhabitants) * Canton of Rennes-2 (42,446 inhabitants) * Canton of Rennes-3 (43,683 inhabitants), which includes parts of Rennes but also the ''commune'' of Chantepie * Canton of Rennes-4 (36,348 inhabitants) * Canton of Rennes-5 (46,759 inhabitants), which includes parts of Rennes but also the ''commune'' of

Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande (; ; Gallo: ''Saent-Jaq'') is a commune of Rennes Métropole in the Ille-et-Vilaine department of Brittany in northwestern France. Population People from Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande are called ''jacquolandins'' in Frenc ...

* Canton of Rennes-6 (46,750 inhabitants), which includes parts of Rennes but also the ''commune'' of Pacé Plan quartiers Rennes

Rennes is divided into 12 quarters: # Centre # Thabor - Saint-Hélier - Alphonse Guérin # Bourg L’Évesque - La Touche - Moulin du Comte # Saint-Martin # Maurepas - Bellangerais # Jeanne d’Arc - Longs Champs - Atlante Beaulieu # Francisco Ferrer - Landry - Poterie # Sud Gare # Cleunay - Arsenal - Redon - La Courrouze # Villejean - Beauregard # Le Blosne # Bréquigny

Mayors

The current mayor of Rennes is

Nathalie Appéré Nathalie Appéré (born 8 July 1975) is a French politician who has served as the president of Rennes Métropole since 2020 and the mayor of Rennes since 2014. She is a member of the Socialist Party (PS). Appéré was born in Morbihan and moved ...

. A member of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...

, she replaced retiring

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

incumbent Daniel Delaveau, in office from 2008 to 2014. * Edmond Hervé (b. 1942),

mayor from 1977 to 2008; * Henri Fréville (1905–1987), mayor MRP from 1953 to 1977; * Eugène Quessot (1882–1949), interim mayor from 15 July 1947 until 26 October 1947; * Yves Milon (1897–1987), mayor RPF from 1944 to 1953. Among previous well-known mayors are: * Jean Janvier (1859–1923), from 1908 to 1923; * Edgar Le Bastard (1836–1891), from 1880 to 1891; * Toussaint-François Rallier du Baty (1665–1734) from 1695 to 1734. The ' (''city hall'') is right in the centre of Rennes.

National representation

The French Prison Service operates the '' Centre pénitentiaire de Rennes'', the largest women's prison in France.

Geography

The ancient centre of the town is built on a hill, with the north side being more elevated than the south side. It is at the confluence of two rivers: the

and the

. Rennes is located on the European atlantic arc, 50 km from the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

(near

Saint-Malo Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany, on the English Channel coast. The walled city had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth from local extortion and overseas adventures. In 1944, the Alli ...

Dinard Dinard (; br, Dinarzh, ; Gallo: ''Dinard'') is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department, Brittany, northwestern France. Dinard is on the Côte d'Émeraude of Brittany. Its beaches and mild climate make it a holiday destination, and this ...

and Mont Saint-Michel). Rennes has the distinction of having a significant

Green Belt A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges, which ...

around its ring road. This Green Belt is a protected area between the city proper (rather dense) and the rest of its urban area (rather rural).

Climate

Rennes features an oceanic climate. Precipitation in Rennes is considerably less abundant than in the western parts of Brittany, reaching only half of the levels of, e.g., the city of Quimper, which makes rainfall in Rennes comparable to the levels of larger parts of western Germany. Sunshine hours range between 1,700 and 1,850 annually, which is about the amount of sunshine received by the city of

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR ...

Population

In 2018, the inner population of the city was of 221,272 inhabitants, the Rennes intercommunal structure connecting Rennes with 42 nearby suburbs (named

Rennes Métropole Rennes Métropole is the ''métropole'', an intercommunal structure, centred on the city of Rennes. It is located in the Ille-et-Vilaine department, in the Brittany region, western France. It was created in January 2015, replacing the previous ' ...

) counted 450,593 inhabitants and the metropolitan area counted nearly 750,000 inhabitants. Rennes has the second fastest-growing metropolitan area in France after

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...

and before Montpellier,

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...

and Nantes. The inhabitants of Rennes are called ''Rennais'' in French.

Sights

Rennes is classified as a city of art and history.

Historic centre

The historic centre is located on the former plan of the ramparts. There is a difference between the northern city centre and the southern city centre due to the 1720 fire, which destroyed most of the timber-framed houses in the northern part of the city. The rebuilding was done in stone, on a grid plan. The southern part, the poorest at this time, was not rebuilt. Due to the presence of the ''parlement de Bretagne'', many " hôtels particuliers" were built in the northern part, the richest in the 18th century. Most of the

monuments historiques ''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a coll ...

can be found there. Colourful traditional half-timbered houses are situated primarily along the roads of Saint-Sauveur, Saint-Georges, de Saint-Malo, Saint-Guillaume, des Dames, du Chapitre, Vasselot, Saint-Michel, de la Psallette and around the plazas of Champ-Jacquet, des Lices, Saint-Anne and Rallier-du-Baty.

The Parlement de Bretagne and city hall area

The '' Parlement de Bretagne'' (Administrative and judicial centre of Brittany, ) is the most famous 17th century building in Rennes. It was rebuilt after a terrible fire in 1994 that may have been caused by a flare fired by a protester during a demonstration. It houses the Rennes Court of Appeal. The plaza around is built on the

classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the works of the Roman architect ...

. On the west, the Place de la Mairie (City Hall Plaza, Plasenn Ti Kêr): * City Hall * Opera On the east, at the end of the ''Rue Saint-Georges'' with traditional half-timbered houses: * 1920s Saint George Municipal Pool, with mosaics * Saint George Palace, and its garden On the south-east: * Saint-Germain square ** Saint-Germain Church ** Saint-Germain footbridge, 20th century wood and metal construction to link the plaza with Émile Zola Quay, across the

River. File:Rennes église Saint-Germain.jpg, Saint Germain's church File:Rennes Opéra.JPG, Opera of Rennes File:Palais Saint-Georges, Rennes.jpg, Saint Georges Palace File:Mairie de Rennes.jpg,

Rennes City Hall Rennes City Hall (french: Mairie de Rennes, Hôtel de ville de Rennes) is the seat of the city council in the French city of Rennes. It has been classed by the French government as a ''monument historique'' since 1962. History The Baroque architec ...

The Place des Lices and cathedral area

The Place des Lices is lined by hôtels particuliers with the place Railler-du-Baty, is the location of the weekly big market, the marché des Lices. Near the

Rennes Cathedral Rennes Cathedral (french: Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Rennes) is a Roman Catholic church located in the town of Rennes, France. It has been a monument historique since 1906. The cathedral, dedicated to Saint Peter, is the seat of the Archbishop ...

(cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Rennes) is the Rue du Chapitre: * Hôtel de Blossac * There are 16th century polychrome wooden busts on the façade of 20, Rue du Chapitre. On this era are the former St. Yves chapel, now the tourism office and a museum about the historical development of Rennes and the Basilica Saint-Sauveur. File:Marche des Lices mise en place 03.JPG, Place des Lices with the roof top of Les Halles Martenot seen in on the left, and the hôtels particuliers on the right. File:Bretagne Ille Rennes1 tango7174.jpg, Rue du Chapitre File:Hôtel de Blossac - Portail sur la rue du Chapitre - DSC 0811.JPG, Gate of the Hôtel de Blossac File:Rennes - Saint-Sauveur façade.jpg, Basilique Saint-Sauveur

Remains of the ramparts

Built from the 3rd to the 12th centuries, the ramparts were largely destroyed between the beginning of the 16th century and the 1860s. File:Rennes-mordelaise1.jpg, Portes mordelaises. The street crossing this gate comes from the Place des Lices and ends at the cathedral File:Rennes remparts.jpg, Tour Duchesne File:Rennes RallierduBaty.jpg, Place Railler-du-Baty File:Rennes remparts.svg, Map of the remaining ramparts in Rennes

Place Saint-Anne area

Place Saint-Anne (Plasenn Santez-Anna) * Saint-Aubin Church, built in the beginning of the 20th century * Location of a former 14th century hospital * Jacobite

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglic ...

, the convention centre South-western, ''La Rue Saint-Michel'' nicknamed ''Rue de La Soif'' (''Road of Thirst'') because there are bars all along this street. South-eastern, the Champ-Jacquet square, with Renaissance buildings and a statue of mayor Jean Leperdit ripping up a conscription list. File:Place Saint Anne Rennes.JPG, Place Saint-Anne File:Rennes - Couvent des Jacobins 20171216-14.jpg, Convention centre File:Rue St Michel Rennes.JPG, Saint-Michel street File:Place Champ Jacquet.JPG, Medieval houses at Champ-Jacquet

East: Thabor park area

Area of Saint-Melaine square ;Notre-Dame-en-Saint-Melaine basilica, * Tower and transept from the 11th century Benedictine

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The con ...

of Saint-Melaine * 14th century Gothic arcades * 17th century colonnade * Bell tower topped with a gilded Virgin Mary (19th century) * 17th century cloister Jardin botanique du Thabor (formal French garden, orangerie, rose garden, aviary) a

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

on 10 hectares of land, built between 1860 and 1867. 17th century promenade "la Motte à Madame", and a monumental stairway overlooking the Rue de Paris entrance to the Thabor. File:Notre dame en saint-melaine DSC 4481.jpg, Notre-Dame-en-Saint-Melaine basilica, viewed from the parc du Thabor Portail du thabor.JPG, Main gate of the parc du Thabor File:Thabor entree rue paris.JPG, Rue de Paris Thabor entrance

South city centre

The south city centre is a mix of old buildings and 19th and 20th centuries constructions. File:Rennes Grande maison des Carmes escalier.JPG, Maison des Carmes File:Lycee Rennes DSC08932.JPG, Lycée Zola File:Rennes - Église Toussaints façade.jpg, Toussaints church File:Palais du Commerce (Poste) Rennes.JPG, Palais du commerce

South of the Vilaine

The Fine Arts Museum is situated on Quai Émile Zola, by the

River. Les Champs Libres is a building on Esplanade Charles de Gaulle, and was designed by the architect

Christian de Portzamparc Christian de Portzamparc (; born 5 May 1944) is a French architect and urbanist. He graduated from the École Nationale des Beaux Arts in Paris in 1970 and has since been noted for his bold designs and artistic touch; his projects reflect a ...

. It houses the Brittany Museum (Musée de Bretagne), the regional library Bibliothèque de Rennes Métropole with six floors, and the Espace des Sciences science centre with a planetarium. At Place Honoré Commeurec is Les Halles Centrales, a covered market from 1922, with one part converted into contemporary art gallery. The Mercure Hotel is located in a restored building on Rue du Pré-Botté, which was the prior location of Ouest-Éclair, and then of Ouest-France, a premier daily regional newspaper. There are large mills at Rue Duhamel, constructed on each side of the south branch of the Vilaine in 1895 and 1902.

Other sights

To the northwest of Rennes, near Rue de Saint-Malo are the

lock Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

s of the Canal d'Ille-et-Rance of 1843. There are two halls of the printer, Oberthür, built by Marthenot between 1870 and 1895 on Rue de Paris in the eastern part of the city. Oberthür Park is the second biggest garden in the city. The 17th century manor of Haute-Chalais, a granite château, is situated to the south of the city in Blosne Quarter (Bréquigny).

Parks and gardens

File:Gayeulles2013 Etang02.JPG, Gayeulles parc File:Rennes Square de la Motte.JPG, Square of Motte. File:Mail François Mitterrand - Rennes.JPG, Mail Mitterrand File:Thabor Dahlias.JPG, Thabor parc File:Lac du parc Oberthür.jpg, Oberthur parc File:Palais Saint-Georges, Rennes.jpg, Saint-Georges garden. Parc du Thabor contains a compact but significant

, the Jardin botanique du Thabor. The

University of Rennes 1 The University of Rennes 1 is a public university located in the city of Rennes, France. It is under the Academy of Rennes. It specializes in science, technology, law, economics, management and philosophy. There are currently about students en ...

, with a campus in the city's eastern section, also contains a

and collections (the Jardin botanique de l'Université de Rennes).

Economy

Local economy include car manufacturing, telecommunications, digital sector and agrofood. The ITC firm Orange (ex-France Telecom) is the largest private employer with 4,800 people.

PSA Peugeot Citroën The PSA Group (), legally known as Peugeot S.A. (Peugeot Société Anonyme, trading as Groupe PSA; formerly known as PSA Peugeot Citroën from 1991 to 2016) was a French multinational automotive manufacturing company which produced automobiles ...

, is the second largest private employer in the metropolitan area of Rennes, with 3,000 people. PSA opened a manufacturing plant at La Janais in Chartres-de-Bretagne in 1961. Technicolor, one of the biggest firms in TV and cinema broadcasting in the world employs over 500 people. Rennes has the second largest concentration of digital and ITC firms in France after Paris (with well-known companies and

startups A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that never intend t ...

Atos Atos is a European multinational information technology (IT) service and consulting company headquartered in Bezons, France and offices worldwide. It specialises in hi-tech transactional services, unified communications, cloud, big data and ...

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

, Neosoft, Orange S.A.,

Thales Thales of Miletus ( ; grc-gre, Θαλῆς; ) was a Greek mathematician, astronomer, statesman, and pre-Socratic philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. He was one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Many, most notably Aristotle, regarded ...

Ericsson (lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in informa ...

, Harmonic France, STmicroelectronics, Technicolor R&D,

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry'', ...

, Regionsjob,

Capgemini Capgemini SE is a multinational information technology (IT) services and consulting company, headquartered in Paris, France. History Capgemini was founded by Serge Kampf in 1967 as an enterprise management and data processing company. The comp ...

, OVH,

Dassault Systèmes Dassault Systèmes SE () (abbreviated 3DS) is a French software corporation which develops software for 3D product design, simulation, manufacturing and other 3D related products. Founded in 1981, it is headquartered in Vélizy-Villacoublay, F ...

, Delta Dore,

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

, Artefacto,

Enensys Technologies ENENSYS Technologies (or ENENSYS Group) designs and manufactures innovative software and professional equipment for the digital media distribution chain. ENENSYS addresses all types of broadcast networks, including Mobile (4G/5G), Broadband (IPT ...

, Exfo, Mitsubishi Electric R&D Europe, Digitaleo, Kelbillet, Klaxoon,

Sopra Group Sopra Steria is a Paris-based consulting, digital services, and software development company. Sopra Steria has a new consulting wing under the “Next” brand. It employs 3,400 consultants across Europe, including 1,900 in the group’s native ...

, Niji, and

Airbus Cybersecurity Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: '' ...

). Rennes was one of the first French cities to receive the French Tech label in November 2014. Moreover, Rennes hosts the 3rd public research potential in digital and ITC sectors in France, after Paris and Grenoble, with 3,000 people working in 10 laboratories, like well-known IRISA, IETR, IRMAR, DGA-MI (cyberdefense), and SATIE. It is also the third innovation potential in agrofood French industry with many firms in this field ( Lactalis, Triballat Sojasun, Coralis, Panavi, Bridor, Groupe Avril, Loïc Raison, Groupe Roullier, Sanders, etc.), an agro campus (Agrocampus Ouest) and a big international and professional expo, the Space (every year in September). Other large firms located in Rennes include the restaurant conglomerate Groupe Le Duff (owners of Brioche Dorée,

Bruegger's Bruegger's Enterprises, Inc. is a restaurant operator and subsidiary of the Luxembourg-based company JAB Holding Company. It and its wholly owned subsidiary Threecaf Brands Canada, Inc., are franchisers and operators of Bruegger's bakery-cafés, ...

, La Madeleine, Mimi's Cafe,

Timothy's World Coffee Timothy's World Coffee (a.k.a. Timothy's) is a large Canadian coffee roasting company and chain of coffeeshops. Origin and background Timothy's was founded in 1975 as a retailer of premium roasted coffee beans by Timothy Snelgrove and his wife T ...

), the first French newspaper

Ouest France ''Ouest-France'' ( ; French for "West-France") is a daily French newspaper known for its emphasis on both local and national news. The paper is produced in 47 different editions covering events in different French départments within the régi ...

(800,000 daily copies) and Samsic Service (cleanliness, industrial safety, job search, etc.).

Culture

Les Tombées de la Nuit 2007 - ambiance Café Baraque

Rennes is known to be one of the most festive cities of France. It invests heavily in arts and culture and a number of its festivals (such as the music festival ''Les Transmusicales'', ''Les Tombées de la Nuit'', ''Mythos'', Stunfest ( fighting game competition) and ''Travelling (a cinematic festival)'') are well known throughout France. During the 80s, Rennes was often cited as the French town of rock and new wave music.

Concert halls

Rennes is well equipped with musical facilities: * The ''MusikHall'', for large shows (near the airport). (7,000 seats) * ''Le Liberté'', dedicated to major cultural events and touring shows. (5,300 seats) * ''La Cité'', dedicated to contemporary music & local artists. (1,150 seats) * ''L'Étage'' (Le Liberté), dedicated to contemporary music & local artists. (900 seats) * Rennes's Opera House (650 seats) and National Theatre of Brittany, TNB in French (Vilar room, 950 seats) for the Brittany orchestra. * The ''Ubu'', an associative concert hall. (500 seats) * ''L'Antipode MJC'', also an art centre. (500 seats)

Museums and exhibition places

There are also five museums in Rennes: * Musée des Beaux Arts ( Museum of Fine Arts of Rennes). This art museum holds many works by the sculptor

Pierre Charles Lenoir Pierre Lenoir (23 May 1879, in Paris – 9 September 1953, in Paris) was a French sculptor. Biography Pierre Lenoir was a French sculptor and medallist and was one of the Breton sculptors born in the 1880s who studied together at the École r ...

* Musée de Bretagne (Museum of Brittany) at the Champs Libres, together with the 'espace of sciences' and a planetarium. * Museum of Farming and Rennes Countryside at Bintinais, south of Rennes. * Musée des Transmissions (Museum of Broadcasting) at Cesson-Sévigné, east of Rennes centre. * FRAC Bretagne Fond Régional d'Art contemporain (Regional Fund for Contemporary Art). In addition to this list, there are art facilities such as ''40mcube'' exhibition space or the centre for contemporary art ''La Criée''. There are also miscellaneous cultural places: the dance dedicated place the ''Triange'', two "Art et Essai" – art house cinemas – cinemas called ''l'Arvor'' and ''Cine TNB''. Surrounding cities house many other cultural venues.

Media

Rennes was one of the first towns in France to have its own local television channel 'TV Rennes', created in 1987. Rennes has also local radio stations (Hit West, Radio Campus, Canal B, Radio Caroline, Radio Rennes, Radio Laser) and local newspapers or magazines (Ouest-France, Le Mensuel de Rennes, Place Publique, 20 Minutes Rennes).

Local culture

Local languages

In Brittany, two regional languages are spoken: Breton and Gallo. In and around Rennes, Gallo was traditionally spoken as a local language, but Breton has always been spoken by regional migrants coming from the western part of the region. Nowadays, the Breton language is taught in two Diwan schools, some bilingual public and Catholic schools, in evening courses, and in university. The municipality launched a linguistic plan through

Ya d'ar brezhoneg (french: Oui au breton, en, Yes to Breton) is a campaign started in the 21st century by the ( en, Office of the Breton language) to promote and stimulate the use of the Breton language in daily life in Brittany, northwestern France. Breton is a ...

on 24 January 2008. In 2008, 2.87% of primary school children were enrolled in bilingual primary schools, and the number of pupils enrolled in these schools is steadily growing.

Local food

Specialties from Rennes include: * Breton galette *

Galette-saucisse A ''galette-saucisse'' ( br, Kaletez gant silzig) is a type of French street food item consisting of a hot sausage, traditionally grilled, wrapped in a type of crepe called '' galette de sarrasin'' or Breton galette. The French region known as Upp ...

Crêpe A crêpe or crepe ( or , , Quebec French: ) is a very thin type of pancake. Crêpes are usually one of two varieties: ''sweet crêpes'' () or ''savoury galettes'' (). They are often served with a wide variety of fillings such as cheese, ...

* Cider Many other Breton specialties (seafood, milk, vegetables, cheese, meat) are seen at the Marché des Lices, a weekly market held every Saturday morning (one of the most important markets in France).

Education

The Rennes agglomeration has a large student population (around 63,000). The city has two main universities; '' Université de Rennes 1'', which offers courses in science, technology, medicine, philosophy, law, management, and economics, and '' Université Rennes 2'', which has courses in the arts, literature, languages, communication, human and social sciences, and sport. The official website of Université Rennes 2 identifies that facility as "the largest research and higher learning institution in Arts, Literature, Languages, Social Sciences and Humanities in the West of France." There are a few '' École Supérieures'' in Rennes, like the '' École Normale Supérieure de Rennes'' on the Ker Lann campus, just outside Rennes, the '' Institut d'études politiques de Rennes'' or the ESC Rennes School of Business. There is also branches of '' École Supérieure d'Électricité'' –

Supélec École supérieure d'électricité, commonly known as Supélec (), was a French graduate school of engineering. It was one of the most prestigious grande écoles in France in the field of electrical engineering, energy and information sciences. ...

and

Telecom Bretagne Telecom may refer to: * Telecommunications ** A telephone company (or ''telecommunications service provider'') ** The telecommunications industry * Telecom Animation Film, a Japanese studio See also * Telcom (disambiguation) * Telekom (disambi ...

in the east of the city ( Cesson-Sévigné), a campus of the ''

École pour l'informatique et les nouvelles technologies The Paris Graduate School of Digital Innovation (french: École pour l'informatique et les nouvelles technologies, or EPITECH), formerly European Institute of Information Technology, is a private institution of higher education in computer scien ...

'', a campus of the ''

École pour l'informatique et les techniques avancées École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

'', and the ''

grande école A ''grande école'' () is a specialised university that is separate from, but parallel and often connected to, the main framework of the French public university system. The grandes écoles offer teaching, research and professional training in s ...

'' ''

Institut National des Sciences Appliquées An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes can ...

'', which is next to the '' École nationale supérieure de chimie de Rennes''. The computer science and applied mathematics research institute, IRISA, is located on the campus of the Université des Sciences, near Cesson-Sévigné. The '' Délégation Générale pour l'Armement'' (defence procurement agency) operates the CELAR research centre, dedicated to electronics and computing, in Bruz, a neighbouring town. Catholic University of Rennes (''Institut Catholique de Rennes'') is a Catholic university founded in 1989. The city is also home to an American study abroad program for high school students, School Year Abroad, in which students are immersed in French culture through five classes in the language and a nine-month home stay. The ''École Compleméntaire Japonaise de Rennes'' (レンヌ補習授業校 ''Rennu Hoshū Jugyō Kō''), a part-time Japanese supplementary school, is held in the ''Collège Anne de Bretagne'' in Rennes.欧州の補習授業校一覧（平成25年4月15日現在）

. Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). Retrieved 10 May 2014. "College Anne de Bretagne 15, rue de Martenot, 35000 RENNES"

Sport

Football club

* Rennes is home to

Stade Rennais F.C. Stade Rennais Football Club (), commonly referred to as Stade Rennais FC, Stade Rennais, Rennes, or simply SRFC, is a French professional football club based in Rennes, Brittany. They compete in Ligue 1, the top tier of French football, and pla ...

, who plays in Ligue 1 at the

Roazhon Park The Roazhon Park is a football stadium in Rennes, Brittany, France. ''Roazhon'' is the Breton name of Rennes. The stadium was inaugurated on 15 September 1912. It is located at 111 route de Lorient, in west-central Rennes. Rebuilt in 2001 and ...

stadium.

Handball

* Cesson-Sévigné is home to Cesson-Rennes-Métropole handball, who plays in division 1.

Road bicycle

* Rennes is home to Fortuneo-Vital Concept (UCI Team Code: BSE), a professional cycling team.

Rugby

* Rennes is home to Stade Rennais Rugby, a women's rugby team who plays in Championnat de France de rugby à XV féminin, which is the top national competition for women's rugby union football clubs in France. Rennes is also home t
REC Rugby
a men's team competing in

Fédérale 1 Le championnat de France de première division fédérale, a.k.a. Fédérale 1, is a French rugby union club competition, the fifth highest level of amateur rugby. The competition has been organised by the Fédération Française de Rugby since 2 ...

, the fourth tier of the Men's Rugby Union championship.

Transport

Bus et métro station Poterie (5618280569)

Station LE vélo STAR Charles de Gaulle 2

Rennes has well-developed national road, rail and air links.

Public transport

Local transport is based primarily on an extensive bus network (65 lines) and a

light metro A medium-capacity system (MCS), also known as light rapid transit or light metro, is a rail transport system with a capacity greater than light rail, but less than typical heavy-rail rapid transit. MCS’s trains are usually 1-4 cars, or 1 lig ...

line that was inaugurated in March 2002 and cost €500 million to build. The driverless

Rennes Metro The Rennes Metro (french: Métro de Rennes) ( br, Metro Roazhon) is a light metro system serving the city of Rennes in Brittany, France. Opened on March 15, 2002, it made Rennes the smallest city to have a metro system from 2002 to 2008. Curren ...

( VAL) is in length and has 15 stations, including one designed by architect

Norman Foster Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Nor ...

(La Poterie station). A second light metro line known as Line B was opened on September 20, 2022 after 8 years of construction.

Cycling

Rennes provides other modes of local transport: a bike sharing system with 900 bicycles (named vélo STAR). Rennes created the first system of modern French bike sharing (1998).

Roads

The city is an important hub of Brittany's motorway network and is surrounded by a ring road: the Rocade (national road 136). The construction of the bypass was started in 1968 and completed in 1999. It is 31 km (18.5 mi) long, it has 2 lanes each way (sometimes 3 lanes) and toll free. Many other expressways are connected to the Rennes ring road for local and regional service. By road,

can be reached in 45 minutes, Nantes in 1 hour,

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress * Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria * Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France ** Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Br ...

in 2 hours and 30 minutes,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

in 4 hours,

in 5 hours and

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

in 6 hours and 30 minutes.

Railway

Rennes has a major French railway station, the Gare de Rennes, opened in 1857. Since 2 July 2017, it is now one hour twenty-seven minutes by TGV high-speed train from Paris (after the extension of the High Speed Rail Line). Train service is available to other big cities in France such as

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the N ...

and Strasbourg. Rennes is also an important railway station for regional transport in Brittany. The TER Bretagne provides links to

, Nantes,

Redon Redon (; ) is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department in Brittany in northwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. Geography Redon borders the Morbihan and Loire-Atlantique departments. It is situated at the junction of t ...

, Vitré, Saint-Brieuc, Vannes, Laval,

and many other regional cities. It is served by Gares station on the VAL

Airport

Rennes is served by Rennes Brittany Airport (Saint-Jacques), located from the centre to the south-west in the commune

. It notably operates regular or seasonal flights to

Paris-Charles de Gaulle Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (french: Aéroport de Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle, ), also known as Roissy Airport or simply Paris CDG, is the principal airport serving the French capital, Paris ( and its metropolitan area), and the largest intern ...

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, Palma de Mallorca, Rome-Fiumicino,

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, Exeter,

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, Amsterdam Schiphol, Madrid Barajas,

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

, London-City,

London-Gatwick Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after Hea ...

and daily flights to

London Southend Airport London Southend Airport is an international airport situated on the outskirts of Southend-on-Sea in Essex, England, approximately from the centre of London. The airport straddles the boundaries between the city of Southend-on-Sea and the R ...

with Flybe.

Notable people

* Soazig Aaron (born 1949), writer * Bertrand d'Argentré (1519–1590), jurist and historian, seneschal of Rennes in 1547 than head of the présidial court * Emmanuel-Marie Blain de Saint-Aubin (1833–1883), educator, songwriter, story-teller, and translator * Georges Ernest Boulanger (1837–1891), general and politician, born in Rennes * Jean-Claude Bourlès (born 1937), writer and traveler * Nicolas Courjal (born 1973), operatic bass *

Maxime Daniel Maxime Daniel (born 5 June 1991 in Rennes) is a French former professional cyclist, who competed professionally between 2013 and 2019 for the , and teams. Major results ;2012 : 1st ZLM Tour : Boucle de l'Artois ::1st Stages 2 & 3 : 5th Ronde ...

(born 1991), professional cyclist * Madeleine Desroseaux (1873–1939), poet and novelist *

Yvonne Dubel Yvonne Dubel (1881–1958) was a French operatic soprano from Rennes. After completing her studies at the city's Conservatoire, she débuted in 1904 at the Paris Opera as Elsa in Wagner's ''Lohengrin''. In March 1911 at the Monte Carlo Opera, she ...

(1881–1958), soprano opera singer * Félix Dujardin (1801–1860), professor and dean of the University of Rennes, famous

parasitologist Parasitology is the study of parasites, their hosts, and the relationship between them. As a biological discipline, the scope of parasitology is not determined by the organism or environment in question but by their way of life. This means it ...

* René Guillou (1903–1958), composer and organist *

Paul Jausions Dom Paul Ambroise Marie Jausions (15 November 1834 in RennesRegistre des naissances (1834), Archives municipales de Rennes, cote 2E42, . – 9 Septemberp. 29, note n°33 bis 1870 in Vincennes, Indiana aged 35) was a French forerunner in the field of ...

(1835–1870), musicologist specialising in Gregorian chant * Hélène Jégado (1803–1852), executed serial poisoner *

Matthieu Lahaye Matthieu Lahaye (born 23 November 1984, in Rennes) is a French racing driver, competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship for OAK Racing. Career Lahaye's career began in karting, in which he competed between 1995 and 2001. He then took par ...

(born 1984), racing driver * Pierre-Emmanuel Le Goff (born 1979), film director, producer and distributor * Jacques Legrand (born 1946), linguist and anthropologist, specialising in Mongolian literature, language and history * Malika Ménard (born 1987), Miss France 2010 * Sylvaine Neveu (born 1968), chemist and scientific director of the Solvay group *

Louis Pérouas Louis Pérouas (9 September 1923, in Rennes – February 2011, in Limoges) was a French historian, a specialist in the history of the French Catholic Church. Ordained a priest in 1949, he became a missionary of the Society of Mary. He pursued post ...

(1923–2011), priest and historian * François-Henri Pinault (born 1962), chairman and CEO of

Kering Kering () is a French-based multinational corporation specializing in luxury goods. It owns the brands Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Gucci, Alexander McQueen and Yves Saint Laurent. The timber-trading company Pinault S.A. was founded in 1963, by ...

. * René Pleven (1901–1993), twice President of the Council of Ministers * Pierre Robiquet (1780–1840), chemist member of the Académie des Sciences, discoverer of codein, asparagin and

alizarin Alizarin (also known as 1,2-dihydroxyanthraquinone, Mordant Red 11, C.I. 58000, and Turkey Red) is an organic compound with formula that has been used throughout history as a prominent red dye, principally for dyeing textile fabrics. Historic ...

among others *

Valentina Tronel Valentina Tronel (born 6 April 2009), known as simply Valentina, is a French teenaged singer best known for winning the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020. In 2016, she took part in the French version of ''The Voice Kids''. Since 2018, she has ...

(born 2009), singer, winner of the

Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020 The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was the 18th edition of the annual Junior Eurovision Song Contest, organised by Telewizja Polska (TVP) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The contest took place on 29 November 2020, and was held in ...

and former member of

Kids United Nouvelle Génération Kids United was a French singing group between 2015 and 2021 that consisted of six, later five, children born between 2000 and 2009. It was created to support UNICEF campaigns and is sponsored by Hélène Ségara and Corneille , two Francophon ...

Charles Vanel Charles-Marie Vanel (21 August 1892 – 15 April 1989) was a French actor and director. During his 76-year film career, which began in 1912, he appeared in more than 200 films and worked with many prominent directors, including Alfred Hitchcock ...

(1892–1989), actor

International relations

Twin towns – sister cities

Rennes is twinned with: * Exeter, England, UK ''(since 1956)'' *

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located in W ...

, USA ''(since 1958)'' *

Erlangen Erlangen (; East Franconian: ''Erlang'', Bavarian: ''Erlanga'') is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative district Erlangen), and with 116,062 inhab ...

, Germany ''(since 1964)'' * Brno, Czech Republic ''(since 1965)'' * Sendai, Japan ''(since 1967)'' * Leuven, Belgium ''(since 1980)'' * Sétif, Algeria ''(since 1982)'' * Cork, Ireland ''(since 1982)'' * Almaty, Kazakhstan ''(since 1991)'' * Bandiagara Cercle, Mali ''(since 1995)'' *

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint Joh ...

, Poland ''(since 1998)'' * Sibiu, Romania ''(since 1999)'' * Jinan, China ''(since 2002)''

Other forms of cooperation

Friendly towns within France * Saint-Gilles-du-Mené, France ''(since 1978)'' * Rennes-les-Bains, France ''(since 1985)'' Pacts of cooperation * Huế, Vietnam ''(since 1992)'' Sponsorship * Vouziers, France Rennes also has the only Institut Franco-Américain in France.

Broadcasting facilities

* Transmitter Rennes-Thourie

Cityscape

File:Opera-rennes-nuit.jpg, Opera of Rennes File:Palais Saint-Georges, Rennes, Aug 2010.jpg, Saint George Palace File:Tour des Horizons.JPG, Horizons tower (100 metres/328 ft) File:Historic downtown of Rennes, France.jpg, New style city centre File:EgliseSaintMelaineXIRennesFrance.jpg, ''Notre-Dame en Saint-Mélaine'' church File:Ouest France Rennes.jpg, Ouest-France building File:Rennes Place Rallier du Baty.JPG, Place Rallier du Baty File:Baigneuse, place de Bretagne.jpg, Place de Bretagne File:Rennes 28placedesLices-03.jpg, Windows of the ''Hôtel Racape de La Feuillée'' at Place des Lices File:Marche des Lices etals.JPG, ''Marché des Lices'', a market on weekly basis for local producers at Place des Lices

References

External links

Official site

City council website

Parlement of Brittany
{{Authority control Communes of Ille-et-Vilaine Cities in Brittany Cities in France Prefectures in France Gallia Lugdunensis