[ Its inhabitants are called ''Quimpérois''.
]
Breton language
The municipality launched a linguistic plan through Ya d'ar brezhoneg
(, ) is a campaign started in the 21st century by the () to promote and stimulate the use of the Breton language in daily life in Brittany, northwestern France. Breton is a Brythonic Celtic language which has fallen out of general use since the ...
on 6 February 2008, to revive the teaching and use of Breton, the historic Celtic language of the region. In 2008, 4.61% of primary-school children attended bilingual schools.
Education
Quimper has several schools. These include two Diwan pre-schools, two Diwan primary schools and one Diwan collège
In France, secondary education is in two stages:
* ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 14.
* ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for students between ...
(all specialise in use of Breton). In total, 287 students here attended a Diwan school in 2003–2004.
Festivals
While many French festivals are held in the summer season, Quimper has a winter festival: ''Les Hivernautes''.
In the summer, concerts are held on street corners, with pipers and accordion players.
The Festival de Cornouaille
The Festival de Cornouaille () is an annual festival taking place in Quimper in the Cornouaille region of Brittany, France. The festival begins on the third Sunday of July and lasts for one week. It has been held since 1923 and is one of the bigges ...
, a cultural festival, is typically held in the last week of July.
Tourism
Points of interest in Quimper include:
* Quimper Cathedral
Quimper Cathedral, formally the Cathedral of Saint Corentin (, ), is a Roman Catholic cathedral and national monument of Brittany in France. It is located in the town of Quimper, Finistère, Quimper and is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese o ...
and the nearby statue of Gradlon
Gradlon the Great (''Gradlon Meur'') was a semi-legendary 5th century "king" of Cornouaille who became the hero of many Breton folk stories. The most famous of these legends is the story of the sunken city of Ys. He is supposed to have been the ...
(looking in the direction of Ys)
* Musée des Beaux-Arts de Quimper
The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Quimper is an art museum located in Quimper, Brittany, France. It was founded after Jean-Marie de Silguy (1785-1864) left a legacy of 1200 paintings and 2000 drawings to the town of Quimper on condition that the town ...
(near the cathedral)
* Faience
Faience or faïence (; ) is the general English language term for fine tin-glazed pottery. The invention of a white Ceramic glaze, pottery glaze suitable for painted decoration, by the addition of an stannous oxide, oxide of tin to the Slip (c ...
museum
* The Hôtel de Ville
Transport
Public transport in Quimper is provided by QUB. The network consists of seven urban bus routes and 16 suburban bus routes. During the summer months of July and August, an additional "beach" bus route is open to service.
The Gare de Quimper
Quimper is a railway station in Quimper, Brittany, France. The station was opened on 8 September 1863, and it is located on the Savenay–Landerneau railway. Today, the station is served by TGV (high speed), Intercités (long distance) and TER ( ...
is the terminus of a TGV
The TGV (; , , 'high-speed train') is France's intercity high-speed rail service. With commercial operating speeds of up to on the newer lines, the TGV was conceived at the same period as other technological projects such as the Ariane 1 rocke ...
high-speed train line from Paris, which passes through Le Mans
Le Mans (; ) is a Communes of France, city in Northwestern France on the Sarthe (river), Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the Provinces of France, province of Maine (province), Maine, it is now the capital of ...
, Rennes
Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...
and Vannes
Vannes (; , , ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, French department of Morbihan, Brittany (administrative region), Brittany, northwestern mainland France. It was founded over 2,000 years ago.
History
Celtic ...
. Journey duration is approximately 3 hours 40 minutes. In addition, the following destinations are served by the TER Bretagne
TER Bretagne (stylized as ''TER BreizhGo'' since 2018) is the TER regional rail
Regional rail is a public transport, public rail transport service that operates between towns and cities. These trains operate with more stops than inter-city ...
(the regional train network):
* Quimper – Brest (1 hour 9 minutes)
* Quimper – Rennes (2 hours 15 minutes)
Commercial service at Quimper–Bretagne Airport
Quimper–Bretagne Airport () , formerly known as Quimper–Cornouaille Airport () and Quimper–Pluguffan Airport (), is an airport located in Pluguffan and 5.5 km southwest of Quimper, both communes of the Finistère
Finistère (, ...
has been terminated since November 2023.
Notable people
Quimper is the birthplace of:
* Guillaume-Hyacinthe Bougeant
Guillaume-Hyacinthe Bougeant, known as le Père Bougeant (4 November 1690, Quimper, Brittany – 17 January 1743, Paris) was a French Jesuit and historian.
Life
Bougeant entered the Society of Jesus in 1706, taught classics in the College of C ...
(1690–1743), Jesuit author
* Louis Billouart, Chevalier de Kerlérec (1704–1770), last French governor of Louisiana
* René Cardaliaguet (1875–1950), priest and writer
* Élie Catherine Fréron
Élie Catherine Fréron (; 20 January 1718 – 10 March 1776) was a French literary critic and controversialist whose career focused on countering the influence of the ''philosophes'' of the French Enlightenment, partly through his vehicle, the ...
(1718–1776), critic and controversialist
* Franciscus Lé Livec de Trésurin (1726–1792), French Jesuit
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
* Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen-Trémarec
Rear-Admiral Yves Joseph Marie de Kerguelen-Trémarec (13 February 1734 – 3 March 1797) was a French Navy officer. He discovered the Kerguelen Islands in 1772 during his first expedition to the southern Indian Ocean. Welcomed as a hero after h ...
(1734–1797), explorer, admiral, discoverer of the Kerguelen archipelago
* René-Marie Madec
René-Marie Madec (February 7, 1736 – 1784), called Medoc in Anglo-Indian writings, was a French adventurer in India.
Madec was born at Quimper in Brittany to poor parents.
Aged twelve, he embarked as ship's boy on a boat from Lorient heading ...
(1736–1784), adventurer, Nawab
Nawab is a royal title indicating a ruler, often of a South Asian state, in many ways comparable to the Western title of Prince. The relationship of a Nawab to the Emperor of India has been compared to that of the Kingdom of Saxony, Kings of ...
of India. See also René Madec
* Guillaume François Laennec
Guillaume François Laennec (11 November 1748 – 8 February 1822) was a French physician, and the uncle of René Laennec
René-Théophile-Hyacinthe Laennec (; 17 February 1781 – 13 August 1826) was a French physician and musicia ...
(1748–1822), French physician
* René Laennec
René-Théophile-Hyacinthe Laennec (; 17 February 1781 – 13 August 1826) was a French physician and musician. His skill at carving his own wooden flutes led him to invent the stethoscope in 1816, while working at the Hôpital Necker. ...
(1781–1826), physician, inventor of the stethoscope
The stethoscope is a medicine, medical device for auscultation, or listening to internal sounds of an animal or human body. It typically has a small disc-shaped resonator that is placed against the skin, with either one or two tubes connected t ...
* Max Jacob
Max Jacob (; 12 July 1876 – 5 March 1944) was a French poet, painter, writer, and critic.
Life and career
After spending his childhood in Quimper, Brittany, he enrolled in the Paris Colonial School, which he left in 1897 for an artistic c ...
(1876–1944), poet, painter, writer and critic
* Corentin Louis Kervran
Corentin Louis Kervran (3 March 1901 – 2 February 1983) was a French scientist. Kervran was born in Quimper, Finistère (Brittany), and received a degree as an engineer in 1925. In World War II he was part of the French Resistance.
Kervran pro ...
(1901–1983), scientist
* Philippe Poupon
Philippe Poupon, is a French professional offshore yachtsman, born on 23 October 1954 in Quimper, France. He competed in the 1989–1990 Vendée Globe where he was rescued by Loick Peyron. He then went on to finish 3rd in the 1992–1993 Vendé ...
(born 1954), sailor
* William Stanger (born 1985), footballer
* Jacques Villeglé
Jacques Villeglé, born Jacques Mahé de la Villeglé (27 March 1926 – 6 June 2022) was a French mixed-media artist and affichiste famous for his alphabet with symbolic letters and decollage with ripped or lacerated posters. He was a member ...
(1926–2022), mixed-media
In visual art, mixed media describes artwork in which more than one medium or material has been employed.
Assemblages, collages, and sculpture are three common examples of art using different media. Materials used to create mixed media art inc ...
artist
* Jean-Claude Andro
Jean-Claude Andro (1937, Quimper – 2000) was a French writer. He published his first novel at 22 and then left to teach in Mexico (1960–62). He then pursued a career as a novelist and translator (''Zone sacrée'' and ''Chant des aveugles'' by C ...
(1937–2000), novelist
* Jessica Cérival
Jessica Cérival (born 20 January 1982 in Quimper, Finistère) is a French track and field athlete who specialises in the shot put.
She attended her first major competition in 2007, the 2007 European Athletics Indoor Championships, and she ...
(born 1982), athlete
* Dan Ar Braz
Daniel Le Bras (born 15 January 1949), known by his stage name Dan Ar Braz (), is a Breton guitarist-singer-composer and the founder of L'Héritage des Celtes, a 50-piece Pan-Celt band. As a leading guitarist in Celtic music band, he recorde ...
(b. 1949), guitarist
* Anne Quemere
Anne Quemere (born May 19, 1966) is a French sailor and sportswoman.
Biography
From an early age, she found herself close to the sea on which she sails, as a family living in the Glénan archipelago, on the islands of Groix, Belle-Île, Houat o ...
(b. 1966), sailor and sportswoman
* Clémence Quélennec
Clémence Quélennec (born 6 March 1991, Quimper, France) is a French singer, songwriter, pianist, and composer. Quélennec was primary lead singer for the French "psychedelic-rock" band La Femme approximately 10 years, and became solo in 2019 ...
(b.1991) singer and composer
Twin towns – sister cities
Quimper is twinned with:
* Limerick
Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...
, Ireland
* Remscheid
Remscheid () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is, after Wuppertal and Solingen, the third-largest municipality in Bergisches Land, being located on the northern edge of the region, on the south side of the Ruhr area.
Remscheid ha ...
, Germany
* Laurium
Lavrio, Lavrion or Laurium (; (later ); from Middle Ages until 1908: Εργαστήρια ''Ergastiria'') is a town in southeastern part of Attica, Greece. It is part of Athens metropolitan area and the seat of the municipality of Lavreotik ...
, Greece
* Ourense
Ourense (; ) is a city and the capital of the province of province of Ourense, Ourense, located in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, northwestern Spain. It is on the Camino Sanabrés path o ...
, Spain
* Yantai
Yantai, formerly known as Chefoo, is a coastal prefecture-level city on the Shandong Peninsula in northeastern Shandong province of the People's Republic of China. Lying on the southern coast of the Bohai Strait, Yantai borders Qingdao ...
, China
* Foggia
Foggia (, ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) of Apulia, in Southern Italy, capital of the province of Foggia. In 2013, its population was 153,143. Foggia is the main city of a plain called Tavoliere delle Puglie, Tavoliere, also know ...
, Italy
See also
* Communes of the Finistère department
The following is a list of the 277 Communes of France, communes of the Finistère Departments of France, department of France.
The communes cooperate in the following Communes of France#Intercommunality, intercommunalities (as of 2025):
* François Bazin (sculptor)
François Bazin was born in Paris on 31 October 1897 and died in Paris in 1956. His parents were engravers and medalists. Early years were spent in Chile where his parents taught at the Santiago art college. The family returned to Paris in 1913 ...
* Henri Alphonse Barnoin
Henri Alphonse Barnoin (7 July 1882 – 17 March 1940) was a French painter born in Paris in 1882.
Biography
Barnoin's father was an artist as were two of his uncles, and he studied art at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris. Although Barnoin ...
* Henri Guinier
* Lionel Floch
Lionel Floch was born in Quimper in 1895 and died in 1972. He was a French painter, engraver, and designer.
Biography
Floch was the son of a naval officer and studied at the "Tour d'Auvergne" school in Quimper. After being mobilized during the 19 ...
*
* List of works of the two Folgoët ateliers
The work of the atelier "Le grand atelier ducal du Folgoët"—one of the two main workshops, with the other being the "atelier cornouaillais du Maître de Tronoën", that emerged during the veritable "golden age" of carving in stone in 15th-centur ...
References
External links
Official city council's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quimper
Communes of Finistère
Prefectures in France