History of Locronan

400m from the village of Little City of Character LOCRONAN. Often used as a movie set, a village preserved from the 15th century.

At the entrance of the town, the signs proclaim, with pride, he is one of the most beautiful villages in France. It suffices to convince, to be on the church square and admire the houses of granite molded cornices, dormers with pediments curves, mullioned windows. This small town with character deserved to be classified as a historical monument in 1924. From XV to XVII centuries, Locronan is a village of weavers who made the paintings of hemp for sails, including those of the French East India Company. A tower in the stalls and shops and we see that artisans perpetuate ancestral traditions: leather working, wood, textiles, ceramics within a framework that has remained unchanged since the Middle Ages.

If the 5th century BJC, the Celts brought the region Locronan Druidic culture is about the year 600 AD that St. Ronan, a monk from Ireland, emigrated to Armorica, and became bishop hermit and ended his days at Saint-Brieuc. Locronan which comes from the Breton "lok" consecrated place or place of retreat and "Ronan" so revered his protector. The Church of St. Ronan (XV century), completed in 1477 during the reign of Francis II (father of Anne of Brittany) is dedicated to him. This religious building with mitred windows that illuminate the Tower, its porch and arched niches with canopies, illustrates perfectly the flamboyant Gothic art of the fifteenth century. The natural scenery of this city of nature could not but attract filmmakers who came to Locronan early twentieth century:

• "Dieu a besoin des hommes" by Jean Delannoy with Pierre Fresnay (1920)
• "Vos gueules les mouettes " by Robert Dhéry (1974)
• "Tess" de Roman Polanski (1979)
• "Chouans" by Philippe de Broca (1988)
• "Un long dimanche de fiançailles" by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (2004)
• Serie l’Epervier based on the comic Patrice PELLERIN made in 2010 by Stéphane CLAVIER aired in March 2011 on France Television.

Druidic place of 2500 years ago, Ronan is the hermit monk from Ireland in the VIth century on a "stone boat", as it takes its name. Today, this ritual still continues in the form of Troménie. From the thirteenth century, the Dukes of Brittany devoting a great devotion to St Ronan, heir to the pagan cult of fertility, are the source of some prosperity.

The real wealth came from the fifteenth century with trade in linen, flax and hemp. Anne de Bretagne Locronan gives the title of "city" in 1505. The paintings Locronan then sail on every ocean and the city is thriving. But the end of the sail and the beginning of industrialization profoundly affects the economy Locronan. The decline began in the seventeenth to nineteenth worsens.

Only towards the second half of the twentieth that tourism brings to life the stone city.

Today, nestled against the flank of the mountain forests drowned, Locronan prepares its bluish-gray granite houses at the foot of the square tower of its church.

Locronan was ranked:

 Petite cité de caractère

Un des plus beaux villages de France
 

For a few days ... or a few hours, take you to an officer of the King came to spend a few days for them to stock Locronan good hemp fabrics for the ships of Her Majesty, a shipping magnate of the East India Company came to rig his caravels bound for new world, a pilgrim from Mr. Saint Ronan came from far away to ask him "heir and lineage, " or thank you finally have provided this long-awaited heir ... or your ship from Spain, reached Yesterday the port of Brest, and you just get off the coach who, by the boat of water, and then the Strand League, allowed you to reach our city ...

At the crossroads of two ancient Roman roads and historic monument, the square is the heart of Locronan. Around the church, the beautiful alignment of 14 houses with granite composes a unique architectural ensemble in Britain. These homes seventeenth and eighteenth demonstrate the wealth of merchants and notables of the canvas that made building (Office des Toiles, Hotel de la Compagnie des Indes ...). The communal well was once the only source of drinking water for the city.

The Priory Church of Saint Ronan. It was built "in a cathedral on the square between 1425 and 1480 thanks to donations from the Dukes of Brittany. His arrow struck by lightning three times, was finally demolished in 1808. A must see to his chair, his altarpieces and stained glass. The legend tells of Ronan trouble with the holy Kebena.

The Pénity. This chapel adjoining the church contains the tomb of St Ronan. The saint is shown lying on a slab of stone supported by 6 Kersanton angels bearing shields. The effigy of the saint blessed right hand and left hand thrusts his stick in the mouth of a monster.

The street is the old Moal Street Weavers. On the right was a small hospital was demolished in 1862.

Our Lady of Good News (XV). At 200m, down the street Moal, once the most lively town. The chapel has stained glass Alfred Manessier. Nearby, a votive fountain offered by Conan (toilier merchant) in 1698 and dedicated to St. Eutropius next to a washery.

Camp Halls. This is a striking terroyé Carolingian 500m from the village. This camp was probably the residence of a senior figure in the ninth - tenth century, perhaps Gradlon.

Lann Street is the family home of the surrealist painter Yves Tanguy.