From Medieval Gates to Art Deco Waves: Audio Tour of Rennes

Overview

Brittany’s capital, Rennes, has been shaped by an unwavering refusal to be defined by its past. On this self-guided audio tour, you’ll discover how this city transformed itself from a medieval timber town into a pioneer of modernism and an Art Deco showcase, all while maintaining its fiercely independent Breton identity. The tour starts at the Couvent des Jacobins, a Dominican monastery from the 1300s that’s now a state-of-the-art convention center. You’ll wander through the narrow streets of the medieval quarter, past timber-framed houses that survived the catastrophic Great Fire of 1720. You’ll walk through the elegant Place de la Mairie, where the City Hall and Opera House were designed as architectural mirrors – one concave, one convex – that locked together like jigsaw pieces. The tour ends at Place Hoche, a grand academic square anchored by the neo-Gothic Hôtel Galicier, which blends medieval fantasy with industrial-age concrete.