Quimper

Quimper takes its name from the Breton kemper, meaning confluence, for the meeting of the Steir and the Odet. A Gallo-Roman town of about fifteen hectares, with a forum and baths on a grid plan, has been traced in the Locmaria quarter, which later texts call Civitas Aquilonia. By 495 the town had a bishop, traditionally Saint Corentin, its first, and legend links its beginnings to Gradlon, the semi-legendary king of Cornouaille whose city of Ys was swallowed by the sea.

Quimper became the capital of the counts of Cornouaille and was united with the Duchy of Brittany in the 11th century. It suffered heavily during the War of the Breton Succession, after which the duchy passed in 1364 to the House of Montfort. The Cathedral of Saint-Corentin rose between the 13th and 16th centuries; its spires were added only in the 19th. In 1490 a peasant uprising known as the Commune de Cornouaille broke out. Faience making goes back to Jean-Baptiste Bousquet, a potter from Marseille who settled in Locmaria at the end of the 17th century, and his descendants.

The city's covered market, built in the 1840s, burned down in 1976 and was replaced in 1979. In 1959 Quimper absorbed the neighbouring communes of Ergué-Armel, Kerfunteun and Penhars, giving it its present size. Among those born here were René Laennec, inventor of the stethoscope, the explorer Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen and the poet and painter Max Jacob.

Quimper is the ancient capital of Cornouaille, Brittany's most traditional region, and its Breton-Celtic character shows in its music, dance and language. In summer, pipers and accordion players perform on street corners, and the Festival de Cornouaille, beginning on the third Sunday of July, fills the centre with about 180 shows, concerts and events celebrating Breton culture in all its diversity. Unusually for France, the city also has a winter festival, Les Hivernautes.

Faience is the city's best-known craft. The tin-glazed pottery made in Locmaria follows bold provincial designs, and its most famous motif, the petit breton, is a naive figure of a Breton man or woman in traditional costume. A museum in Locmaria tells its story, while the Musée des Beaux-Arts holds works by the painters of the nearby Pont-Aven School.

The Breton language is actively promoted. In 2008 the city signed the Ya d'ar brezhoneg charter to revive its teaching and use, and it has Diwan pre-schools, primary schools and a collège that teach in Breton. The Quimpérois are known for a strong attachment to local identity, visible in the shops and flags that celebrate the region's Celtic heritage.

Quimper had about 64,000 residents in 2021, with around 100,000 in its wider urban area, making it the second-largest commune in Finistère after Brest. As prefecture of the department and seat of the diocese, it is an administrative city, with a large hospital, the Centre hospitalier de Cornouaille.

The city's industries have historically included faience, copper and bronze work, galvanised ironware, hosiery, leather, paper and woollen goods. The city's public transport network, QUB, links the centre with the former communes absorbed in 1959 and with the suburbs. Today Quimper is also known for its Cornouaille cider, which carries a protected designation, and for a varied regional food culture.

Daily life follows the river: the quays of the Odet and its footbridges are the heart of the city, the old town's pedestrian streets fill with shoppers, and the covered market draws people from the surrounding countryside. The city has often flooded when its rivers rise, the tides adding to the effect, most recently in 1990, 1995 and 2000.

Quimper's old town is famous for its crêperies, and the crêpe is the everyday food of Cornouaille. A Breton galette is a savoury pancake made with buckwheat flour; sweet crêpes follow for dessert. Kouign-amann, a round Breton cake of laminated dough with layers of butter and sugar, slowly baked until the sugar caramelises, was first made around 1860 in nearby Douarnenez and is sold in the city's bakeries.

Cider is the drink of the region, and Quimper is known for producing Cidre de Cornouaille, which carries a protected designation of origin. Far breton, a dense baked dessert similar to a clafoutis batter with prunes or raisins, is another local favourite.

The covered market in the city centre, Les Halles Saint-François, is the place to see the produce of the surrounding countryside and coast. Brittany's waters supply a wide range of seafood, especially mussels and oysters, and the harbours of Douarnenez and Concarneau are close by, so seafood is never far from the table.