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With a population of
200,000 Rennes is one of France's ten most important
cities: a regional capital, an archbishopric, a cultural
centre and a university town. It is an important economic
centre (foodstuffs, car manufacture, communication and
information technologies are the main industries). Rennes
also has excellent shopping facilities both in the centre
and on the periphery. Much of the city was rebuilt after a
great fire in 1720 with wide streets and there was also
severe damage during the war.
The remnants of the old
town are somewhat lost in the centre of the city. Several
of the finest buildings (Town Hall, Theatre, Law Courts)
lie around the Place du Palais close to the cathedral. The
Law Courts, which were the home of the Parliament of a
semi-independent Brittany, were badly damaged by a fire in
1994. Rennes also has a fine art gallery and adjacent
Brittany Museum, as well as the very attractive Thabor
Botanical Gardens (picture). Parking can be very difficult
near the old town.
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