Locronan a picturesque Breton village in France, located in the south-west of the Brittany region, in the Finistere department.
With over 2,000 years of history, Locronan was originally a sacred site for the Celts called Nemeton. In the Middle Ages, Lokronan developed into an important religious center, and in the 16th and 17th centuries it was an important center for the production of sailcloth, widely used to equip ships with the local naval industry.
The name Locronan is derived from Saint Ronan – a monk from Ireland who is buried in Locronan. Loc is a Breton word for a hermitage. St. Ronan is said to have taught the residents of Locronan to weave. In fact, the prosperity of Locronan in the Middle Ages was based on the production of high quality canvas.
The name Locronan is derived from Saint Ronan – a monk from Ireland who is buried in Locronan. Loc is a Breton word for a hermitage. St. Ronan is said to have taught the residents of Locronan to weave. In fact, the prosperity of Locronan in the Middle Ages was based on the production of high quality canvas.
From its heyday, the village has retained a central paved square adorned with a well, the vast Saint-Ronan church, Renaissance granite houses. The appearance of the village is still completely medieval and well worth seeing , is classified as one of the Plus beaux villages de France (Most Beautiful Villages in France) and Currently a popular tourist destination,
Access : Coordinates: 48.1, -4.2067 / Locronan is 15 km west of Quimper and 5 km from the sea (Atlantic Ocean, bay of Douarnenez, Kervel beach which is part of the municipality of Plonévez-Porzay)./ Driving around the village by car is prohibited. At the entrance there is a large free parking lot.
Contents
Locronan a picturesque Breton village in France, located in the south-west of the Brittany region, in the Finistere department.With over 2,000 years of history, Locronan was originally a sacred site for the Celts called Nemeton. In the Middle Ages, Lokronan developed into an important religious center, and in the 16th and 17th centuries it was an important center for the production of sailcloth, widely used to equip ships with the local naval industry.
The name Locronan is derived from Saint Ronan – a monk from Ireland who is buried in Locronan. Loc is a Breton word for a hermitage. St. Ronan is said to have taught the residents of Locronan to weave. In fact, the prosperity of Locronan in the Middle Ages was based on the production of high quality canvas.From its heyday, the village has retained a central paved square adorned with a well, the vast Saint-Ronan church, Renaissance granite houses. The appearance of the village is still completely medieval and well worth seeing , is classified as one of the Plus beaux villages de France (Most Beautiful Villages in France) and Currently a popular tourist destination,
Highlights :
- The Catholic Church Saint-Ronan : The Catholic Church Saint-Ronan in Locronan was built in the 15th century in the Flamboyant Gothic style on the site of a Romanesque predecessor church. The church is dedicated to Saint Ronan of Locronan, a Breton hermit and saint whose bones are venerated in the Chapelle du Pénity (Pénity Chapel).listed as a historical monument and its Pénity chapel where the tomb of Saint Ronan is located.
- The church square , The buildings on the church square protected as historical monuments and dating from the 17th and 18th centuries, with facades of bluish gray granite.This square is surrounded by 14 houses where aristocrats and wealthy canvas merchants lived in the 17th and 18th centuries.
- Manoir de Kerguénolé (1907) : This mansion is the former home of Charles Danilo (politician, poet and novelist, 1878-1953), and also, since 1912, the City Hall of Locronan.
- The Notre-Dame-de-Bonne-Nouvelle chapel (15th, 16th and 18th centuries), listed as a historic monument, dedicated to Saint Eutrope.
- The Museum of Art and History, created in 1934, presents the great moments of Locronan’s history on the ground floor and around a hundred paintings and drawings representing Finistère on the first floor, as well as earthenware from Quimper.
- Rue saint maurice : This street, which ran along the Roman road, provided access from Locronan to the city of Quimper.
- The mountain of Locronan (Menez Lokorn), is a site classified by decree of November 20, 2007 because of the “quality of the site”, the “exceptional view”, “the vitality of the legend of Saint Ronan” and ” the indisputable historical interest of the secular tradition of Troménie ”
- The Priory mill, located at the confluence of the Stiff and the Apic, is equipped with two pirouettes turning horizontal wheels.
- Rue Moal is not only an old quarter of weavers and small shops, but also the busiest street in Locronan.
- Rue lann : this street is the former home of the priory, the head of a small community of Benedictine monks, who lived near the church. The decoration above the door serves as a reminder of this fact. Yves Tanguy (Breton surrealist painter, 1900-1955), a great friend of Salvador Dali and Jacques Prevet, also lived here. Max Jacob, André Breton, Pierre Preve also visited here. Yves Tanguy spent many holidays in this house, drawing his inspiration here in the family circle, among the Breton landscapes and legends.
- Roman Polański shot his film Tess (international breakthrough by Nastassja Kinski) here, based on Thomas Hardy’s novel Tess of the d’Urbervilles.
- Parts of the television series Silas were also filmed in and around Locronan in 1981, as well as parts of Treasure Island in 1966.Every year the village becomes a pilgrimage site in honor of St. Ronan “Petite Troménie” (Little Troménie), and once every six years, the festival “Grande Troménie”.
Activities : sightseeing / photo opportunities / Scenic Driving- Auto Touring / walk in town with its old districts.
Go next : Quimper , a city in Finistère, France. / Concarneau is a city in the province of Brittany / Benodet , a commune in the north-west of France / Douarnenez , a port town in Finistère, Brittany, France.
