Quimper: old town and Breton culture

Quimper, the historic capital of Cornouaille and administrative centre of Finistère, is organised around water. The Steïr, Jet, Odet and Frout cross the city, shaping the streets and the walks that lead towards the Odet estuary. Its main historic sights lie within a compact area around the cathedral and the two central rivers.

The old town between the rivers

Vieux Quimper extends in front of Cathédrale Saint-Corentin, between the Steïr and the Odet. Remains of the fortifications sit beside timber-framed houses built for canons and prominent local families. Rue du Guéodet contains the Maison des Cariatides, one of the old houses that gives this quarter its distinctive outline, while the banks of the Steïr form a broad pedestrian area.

Rue Kéréon runs from the cathedral to Pont Médard, linking the ecclesiastical and ducal parts of the city. Its name comes from the guild of shoemakers and bootmakers once established there. A fire devastated the narrow street in 1762, when its buildings were almost entirely timber-framed; some replacements were built in stone to reduce the risk of another fire.

Nearby, Place au Beurre is reached through Rue des Boucheries and Rue du Salé. Medieval houses with projecting upper storeys line the square, which is also associated with Quimper’s crêperies. The arrangement of these streets is more revealing than a checklist of individual façades: it shows how trade, church property and the rivers shaped the old centre.

The cathedral and episcopal quarter

Cathédrale Saint-Corentin is one of Brittany’s early Gothic cathedrals. Most of the main structure was built between the 13th and 15th centuries, although its spires date from the 19th. During the French Revolution it became a Temple of Reason before returning to religious use under the Concordat. A restoration campaign lasting more than twenty years, across the 1990s and 2000s, consolidated the structure, replaced damaged stone and treated the frescoes.

The former Palais des Évêques reflects the temporal authority once held by the Bishop of Cornouaille, who was also lord of the enclosed city. Its angled wings frame a Renaissance stair tower. The building contains the Musée départemental breton; upstairs, a fresco room has portraits of successive bishops painted by the Vannes artist Vincent Lhermitais.

Quimper’s stone walls once followed the Frout, Odet and Steïr for about a kilometre and a half, with defensive ditches on the northern side. Tour Nevet is the principal surviving tower. Two gun ports low in the masonry show how the medieval defences were adapted when artillery became part of siege warfare.

Painting and Quimper faïence

The Musée des Beaux-Arts was established in 1864 after a major donation by Jean-Marie de Silguy. Its holdings cover 19th-century French painting as well as Italian, Dutch and Flemish work over a much longer period. Artists connected with Pont-Aven are represented alongside Eugène Boudin, Paul Gauguin, Paul Sérusier and James McNeill Whistler.

Quimper is also known for decorated faïence. The Musée de la Faïence traces the development of the craft, while the H.B. Henriot manufactory represents its local production tradition. Continuity in its hand-decoration methods, rather than industrial novelty, helps explain the recognisable style of Quimper ware.

Along the Odet

A towpath follows the Odet on a relatively level course, opening the centre towards the estuary. Château de Lanniron, once a summer residence of the Bishops of Cornouaille, lies within this riverside setting. Its terraces and botanical collection were badly affected by the storm of 1987 and subsequently replanted and rebuilt.

The Festival de Cornouaille is another expression of the city’s Cornouaille identity, bringing performances and gatherings into streets and venues around the old town. The programme has included Breton traditions as well as links with the Celtic cultures of Galicia and Ireland.