Valves is a French commune located in the west of France on the south coast of Brittany.

The city is built in an amphitheater at the bottom of the Gulf of Morbihan  ; the old town is enclosed in its ramparts, grouped around the cathedral of Saint-Pierre  ; it has been converted into a pedestrian zone and offers shops installed in half-timbered houses , also known as half-timbered .

Vannes, the city of the Venetians , is a starting point for excursions to the famous “little sea”. As for the medieval old town gathered around its Saint-Pierre cathedral and surrounded by ramparts , it is visited for its architectural heritage. This district has many pedestrian streets overlooked by very old half-timbered houses .

Country	France
Region	Brittany
Department	Morbihan
Canton	Vannes-1, 2 and 3
Mayor (2020–2026)	David Robo
Area1	32.3 km2 (12.5 sq mi)
Population (2017-01-01)	53,352
Density	1,700/km2 (4,300/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)

Lines of communication and transport 

Road network 

Vannes is located on a crossroads between the motorway axis which connects Nantes to Brest and the fast axis RN 166 to Ploërmel then RN 24 to Rennes . Vannes is also located on the European route 60 which links Brest to Nantes .

Rail network 

Vannes is a destination served by the Savenay – Landerneau line along the southern coast of Brittany , which constitutes the bulk of the Nantes – Brest connection . A bus station, located in the immediate vicinity of the train station , provides access to municipalities not served by railways, the Vannes ferry terminal and Vannes airport .

The Vannes station has been from 2006 to 2009, profound changes with integration of a glass roof, upgrading for people with disabilities and development of the surrounding parking lots.

Bikes 

Vannes has a cycle network of 54  km. whose expansion and modernization is one of the objectives of the urban transport plan . In addition, between June 2009 and June 2017, Vannes was equipped with a bicycle – sharing system called Vélocéo.

Health 

The Center hospitalier Bretagne Atlantique (P. Chubert hospital) is located on Boulevard Maurice Guillaudot near the station, to the north. There are also several clinics in the agglomeration, including the Océane Clinic, rue Joseph Audic.

Education

The Vannes schools and high schools depend on the Rennes academy .

Primary education 

There are in Vannes, 32 schools (primary and nursery), including twenty-two schools managed by the municipality (seven nursery schools , six primary schools , eight elementary schools ) and eleven private schools.

Secondary education 

Vannes has seven colleges and eight high schools including three public high schools and five private high schools.

Higher education 

Vannes is the third university hub in Brittany, after Rennes and Brest.

The Université de Bretagne-Sud, is jointly established in Vannes, Lorient and Pontivy . The university offers numerous DUTs , licenses and master’s degrees as well as an engineering school.

• The Faculty of Law, Economics and Management, located on the Tohannic campus.
• The Faculty of Sciences and Engineering Sciences located jointly on the Tohannic campus in Vannes and on the Saint-Maudé campus in Lorient.
• The Vannes University Institute of Technology , located on the Kercado campus and which offers vocational training at the bac + 2 and bac + 3 level, in the fields of management, commerce, IT, statistics and of business intelligence.
• The National School of Engineers of South Brittany , an engineering school specializing in computer science is located on the Tohannic campus.

Local Culture and Heritage 

Cultural events and festivities 

The ramparts garden during the Photo de mer exhibition .

The city ​​of the Veneti is based on a history dating back more than 2,000 years to bring cultural events to life throughout the year. Among these we can find events dedicated to the history of the city and its heritage as well as music festivals and fairs.

• Awakening the noise. This music festival takes place in the bars of downtown Vannes in April, it is open to all styles of music.
• Tradi ‚deiz. In April, Kendalc’h organizes a special day in Vannes for Celtic circles from all over Brittany, Loire-Atlantique and Île-de-France, which are evaluated in traditional dance events; a large parade is held at the end of the day and all meet in the ramparts garden for the results of the tests and a dance of the thousand.
• Gulf Week. Maritime festival taking place every two years before Ascension week in the coastal towns of the Gulf of Morbihan .
• Book Fair in Brittany. In June, the Book Fair, created in 2008 , is located in the ramparts gardens, etc.

Places and monuments 

Vannes is classified as a City of Art and History and is home to many first-rate monuments and cultural sites . Guide-lecturers organize visits to discover the intramural and Old Vannes, its heritage and its history. 

Civil heritage 

• Ensign Vannes and his wife. On a half-timbered house dating from the xvi ^th  century that belonged to Gilles Britain and registered historic monument, at the corner of Noe and Pierre-René Rogue in intramural, is one of the emblems of the city. The sign Vannes and his wife, surmounted by busts of a couple in painted stone without hands, is one of the symbols of the city whose origin we do not know. This sculpture could be a commercial sign, probably the sign of a cabaret. This jovial brand is next to Château Gaillard , a private mansion, former seat of the Parliament of Brittany and today an archeology museum.

• Half-timbered houses. The city has an important heritage of half-timbered houses. The oldest of these timbered houses dating from the xv ^th  century . Most notable, because of the colors used, sets and corbels, date from the xvi ^th  century . These typical houses are found in the intramural near the cathedral as well as in the Saint-Patern district and on the right bank of the port. The ground floors have been occupied since the beginning by shops, so there are some original signs on the walls of these colorful houses with undeniable charm.

• The city’s Museum of Fine Arts since 1982 , the Cohue, a word of Breton origin ( coc’hug meaning halls) used in the Middle Ages to designate market places in cities, belongs to the Duke of Brittany . Located in the heart of the city opposite the Saint-Pierre cathedral , the place was the seat of the palace of ducal justice until 1796 .

• Hermine Castle (or Hotel Lagorce). The current building dates from 1785. The fortress is joined by vast outbuildings where it creates a park, the land extending from the Garenne to the pond at the Duke . Today, the Château de l’Hermine is the seat of the Cultural Institute of Brittany .

• City Hall
• Prefecture Hotel and Gardens
• Hotel and gardens of Limur

• Gardens of the Ramparts.
• Ramparts and garden.
• Tower of the Constable, ramparts and gardens.
• Washhouses on the Marle.
• Former town hall of Vannes.
• Lavoirs de la Garenne sur la Marle

Marina 

• The Raven of the Seas. This boat, whose name refers to the great cormorant , is a caseyeur- type fishing vessel specializing in collecting lobsters .The Raven of the Seas became famous for responding, together with the Rouanez-ar-Péoc’h and the Maris Stella , to the call of the June 18 , 1940of General De Gaulle . 

• The three brothers. This boat is a sinago , the last fishing boat of this type built in 1943 . Built in 1943 at the Querrien shipyard in Bono , it was launched under the name Solveig. The sinago is a fishing rowboat with two masts, called before rowboat of Séné (municipality of the Gulf of Morbihan ). It wears two veils in the third, brick red color. Her hull is in oak, passed to coaltar .

Museums 

Vannes has two museums in its historic center classified as museums of France . The Morbihan Archaeological Museum, located in a hotel of xv ^th  century is set in the former hotel of the Parliament of Britain says the Chateau Gaillard . This museum dedicated to the history of Morbihan houses the collections of the Morbihan Polymathic Society , collections dating back to prehistoric times. The museum is very rich in prehistoric objects coming, for the most part, from the first excavations of the megaliths of Morbihan: Carnac , Locmariaquer , peninsula of Rhuys, which made it possible to bring to light some very beautiful pieces. The other museum in the city is La Cohue located in front of Saint-Pierre Cathedral.

Theaters and performance halls 

The main complex for concerts, trade fairs and congresses is called the Chorus . Located on six hectares of land within the Parc du Golfe, an activity park in the southwest of the city, the Chorus is a multi-functional complex. 

Classical music and world music concerts are played at the Carmes auditorium , part of the Vannes ^s music conservatory on the right bank of the marina. The theatrical pieces are performed at the Anne de Bretagne ^s theater, a theater located in the Palais des Arts et des Congrès .

Finally, Vannes is home to the headquarters of the Motocultor Fest Prod association, which organizes various concerts at Vannes itself, and especially every August the Motocultor Festival in the neighboring municipalities of Vannes (for lack of available land in the municipality of Vannes) .

Sports 

The city is one of the hubs of the Breton Sailing Valley , where racing ships like Groupama 4 are built there.

The practice of sport in the Vannes area is diverse. The city’s location on the Gulf is conducive to nautical activities, and attracts many businesses linked to Sailing Valley. In addition, the municipality wishes to encourage its population to practice all disciplines thanks to the existence of many sports complexes.

The Vannes Rugby club has been evolving since the 2016-2017 season in Pro D2 , a great first for a Breton club since the advent of professionalism in rugby.