The History of the City (not for those with short attention spans) As one of the oldest-exisisting parliament seats in France, Rennes has enjoyed a prominent role in the history of Brittany. As the 2,000 year- old regional power seat, Rennes has seen many armies batter its walls, Romans, French, English, Germans and Americans. Click here to read about its story.

Le Parlement de Bretagne The historic parliament of Brittany is a grand structure and played an important role in the Breton mindset. Now, it is just a shell, surrounded by massive cranes. It was gutted in a dramatic fire in 1994.

Rennes is rich in architecture, with examples dating from the 16th Century to the present day. It is extremely lucky to have retained such buildings, having suffered from a devastating fire in 1720, and escaped the fate of others like Brest and St Malo during World War Two. Many of the buildings in the centre date from the fire, and are good examples of work by Robelin, Jacques, and Gabriel.