Stage town for the 9th time
Sub-prefecture of Ille-et-Villaine (35)
Population: 47,500 (Malouins and Malouines)
Personalities: Saint Malo (first bishop), François-René de Chateaubriand (writer), Robert Surcouf, René Dugay-Trouain (privateers), Jacques Cartier (navigator, discoverer of Canada), Jean-Baptiste Charcot (doctor and explorer). Michel Le Bris (writer). Suzy Solidor (singer). Alain Cuny, Daniel Gélin (actors). Bob and Franck Escoffier (skippers). Philippe Cattiau (Olympic fencing champion). Robert Dauphin, Marcel Loncle (international footballers). André Chalmel (cyclist).
Specialities: seafood (Cancale oysters, Malouine mussels), Breton cakes, Kouign Amann. Bordier butter. Saint-Malo crackers. Roellinger spices.
Sport: sailing (Québec - Saint-Malo, Route du Rhum). Football (USSM)
Festivals: Étonnants voyageurs (literature). Route du Rock.
Economy: tourism. Commercial port, fishing port, port of Cancale. Atalante technology park. Marine biotechnologies. Roullier Group (agricultural supplies). Beaumanoir Group (ready-to-wear clothing).
Motto: "Ni Français, ni Breton, Malouin suis.” (Neither French nor Breton, I’m from St. Malo)
Label: Cit'ergie
Websites: www.saint-malo.fr / www.stmalo-agglomeration.fr / www.ille-et-vilaine.fr / www.bretagne.bzh
SAINT-MALO AND CYCLING
Saint-Malo saw the arrival of eight stages, most of which were dominated by sprinters, as was the case during the Tour's last visit in 2013, when Marcel Kittel won. The first winner in Saint-Malo was Ferdi Kubler, a privateer in his own right, but the finish in Saint-Malo was more for the finishers, with victories for André Darrigade (1960), Walter Godefroot (1967) and Patrick Sercu (1974). The day after Darrigade's victory in 1960, a breakaway between Saint-Malo and Lorient decided this edition of the Tour. The stage was won by Roger Rivière, who was denied overall victory by a tragic crash but Gastone Nencini was one of the day's breakaway riders. The Yellow Jersey was in his grasp. There was also a single edition of the Paris - Saint-Malo race in 1894.
André Chalmel, a former team-mate of Bernard Hinault, is one of Saint-Malo's most famous cyclists. Last but not least, it was in Saint-Malo that Louison Bobet, a native of Ille-et-Villaine, set up his first thalassotherapy centre in 1963.
We should also pay tribute to Christophe Penot, a Saint-Malo-based publisher, cycling historian and creator of the Jacques Goddet prize, awarded each year to the best French-language article on the Tour de France.
SIGHTS :
The ramparts
Construction: 15th century.
Style: medieval.
History: the first granite wall was built by Jean de Chatillon in 1155 and restored after 1661, when the town suffered a terrible fire. It therefore dates from before the golden age of privateers, but it was in the 18th century that it acquired its current shape and size, thanks to the expansion work carried out by engineer-architect Siméon Garangeau, a disciple of the famous Vauban.
Characteristics: they include eight gates (Porte Saint-Vincent, Grand'porte, Porte Saint-Louis, Porte de Dinan, Porte Saint-Pierre, Porte des Bés, Porte des Champs-Vauverts and Porte Saint-Thomas), three bastions and three posterns, all of which give an idea of how this wall functioned in times gone by. They are up to 16-metres high in places and stretch for 1,754 m. The ramparts can be climbed from a number of staircases or ramps located at each gate. It takes around an hour to complete the tour, but you can go up or down at any time.
Listed as: Historical Monument in 1886.
Saint-Malo Castle
Construction: 15th to 18th centuries.
Style: medieval.
History: Saint-Malo, lost by Brittany to the King of France in 1395, was restored in 1415. In 1424, John V had the Great Keep built to keep the people of Saint-Malo under his subjection. The Grand Donjon was built on a portion of Saint-Malo's 14th-century walls, namely the Petit Donjon and the western curtain wall. In 1475, Duke François II had the La Générale tower built, less high than the Grand Donjon but more massive. His daughter Anne, the future Queen of France, had the Qui qu'en-Grogne (Who’s Mumblin’) tower built between 1498 and 1501, so named because it was built against the wishes of the people of Saint-Malo. The Tour des Dames (Ladies Tower - the only tower where women had access to the platform) and the Tour des Moulins (Mills Tower) were built in the years that followed.
In the 19th century, the château became a barracks, a function it retained until 1921. At that time, the town council bought part of the buildings to house the museum, which was opened in 1927. The château was badly damaged during the liberation of Saint-Malo in 1944 and was subsequently restored.
Current use: the former barracks have been converted and house the departments of Saint-Malo Town Hall, while the General Tower and the Grand Donjon house the Museum of the History of the City and the St. Malo Region.
Listed as: historical monument in 1886.
Saint-Malo Cathedral
Construction: 12th to 20th centuries.
Style: Romanesque and Gothic.
History and characteristics: in 1145, Jean de la Grille, Bishop of Aleth, obtained permission from Pope Eugene III to transfer the diocese to Saint-Malo, and the monastic church became a cathedral. Alterations were carried out to create a Romanesque-style church, comprising a nave with three bays, a transept surmounted by a square tower and a choir. On the south side are a cloister and buildings housing a chapter of canons. In 1858, Napoleon III was persuaded to crown the tower with a large openwork spire in the Breton style, surrounded by four openwork belfries.
Listed as: Historical Monument in 1910.
Solidor Tower
Construction: 1369 to 1382
Style: medieval.
History and features: this is a fortified keep with three towers, located at the mouth of the River Rance. It was built by Duke John IV of Brittany to control the Rance at a time when the town of Saint-Malo was rebelling against his authority. The tower was built on an already fortified site, itself built on Gallo-Roman fortifications. Developments in military technology rendered it useless, and the tower was converted into a prison during the Revolution and then into a warehouse during the Empire. It then housed a cap-horners' museum, whose collections are due to be transferred to the Saint-Malo Maritime History Museum, scheduled to open in 2028.
Listed as: historical monument in 1886
National Fort
Built: 1689
Style: Vauban fort.
History and characteristics: The island of Fort National is an island at high tide and a peninsula at low tide. Fort National was built in 1689 by engineer Simeon Garangeau to Vauban's plans and on the orders of Louis XIV, at the same time as the ramparts of Saint-Malo were reinforced. An advanced bastion of the corsair town, it was part of a series of fortifications stretching from Fort La Latte to the Pointe de la Varde. The fort has never been taken from its history, apart from during the Second World War when it became a German prison, where more than 300 Malouins and foreigners were locked up in very harsh conditions.
Listed as: historical monument in 1906 and 1913.
Chateaubriand's grave
Built: 1838
History: on his death in 1848, Chateaubriand's remains were transported to Saint-Malo and laid to rest facing the sea, in accordance with his wishes, on the Grand Bé rock, a romantic-looking islet in the harbour of his birthplace, which can be reached on foot from Saint-Malo once the sea has receded. The tomb was completed ten years before his death.
Trivia: Simone de Beauvoir wrote in her memoirs that Jean-Paul Sartre found the monument "pompous" and urinated on it.
Listed as: historical monument in 1954.
TO EAT:
Bordier butter
Bordier butter has become a jewel in the crown of French gastronomy. Top chefs, who are offered tailor-made butters (more or less moist, more or less salty, round or square), appreciate the excellence of this butter, made in the traditional way. Behind Bordier butters is one man, Jean-Yves Bordier. The success of his company is due first and foremost to the selection of high-quality churned butter, made in Brittany. The churning process is what sets Bordier butter apart from industrial butters. Next comes the kneading stage, which involves working the butter until it has a nice, smooth, homogenous texture. Bordier butter is then salted on the fly with fine salt and shaped. Finally, the butter is shaped by hand using boxwood paddles, a process known as "butter beating". Bordier, based in Saint-Malo and Rennes, is also renowned in Brittany for its cheeses.
