Saint-Brieuc
Prefecture and commune in Brittany, France
Saint-Brieuc (French: [sɛ̃ bʁijø] ⓘ; Breton: Sant-Brieg [sãnt ˈbriːɛk]; Gallo: Saint-Berieu) is a city in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France.
01History
Saint-Brieuc is named after a Welsh monk, Brioc, who Christianised the region in the 5th century and established an oratory there. Bro Sant-Brieg/Pays de Saint-Brieuc, one of the nine traditional bishoprics of Brittany, which were used as administrative areas before the French Revolution, was named after Saint-Brieuc. It also dates from the Middle Ages, when the Pays de Saint Brieuc, or Penteur, was established by Duke Arthur II of Brittany as one of his eight "battles" or administrative regions.
The Hôtel de Ville was completed in 1873.
02Geography
The town is located by the English Channel, on the Bay of Saint-Brieuc. Two rivers flow through Saint-Brieuc: the Goued/Gouët and the Gouedig/Gouédic.
Other towns of notable size in the département of Côtes d'Armor are Gwengamp/Guingamp, Dinan, and Lannuon/Lannion all sous-préfectures.
In 2009, large amounts of sea lettuce, a type of alga, washed up on many beaches of Brittany, and when it rotted it emitted dangerous levels of hydrogen sulphide. A horse and some dogs died and a council worker driving a truckload of it fell unconscious at the wheel and died.
Neighbouring communes
Langueux, La Méaugon, Plérin, Ploufragan, Trégueux and Trémuson.
Climate
Saint-Brieuc experiences an oceanic climate.
| Town | Sunshine (hours/yr) |
Rain (mm/yr) | Snow (days/yr) | Storm (days/yr) | Fog (days/yr) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National average | 1,973 | 770 | 14 | 22 | 40 |
| Saint-Brieuc | 1,565 | 774.7 | 7.4 | 8.4 | 44.8 |
| Paris | 1,661 | 637 | 12 | 18 | 10 |
| Nice | 2,724 | 767 | 1 | 29 | 1 |
| Strasbourg | 1,693 | 665 | 29 | 29 | 56 |
| Brest | 1,605 | 1,211 | 7 | 12 | 75 |
| Climate data for Saint-Brieuc (1991-2020 normals, extremes 1985-present) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 15.9 (60.6) |
21.8 (71.2) |
23.9 (75.0) |
26.6 (79.9) |
29.0 (84.2) |
34.9 (94.8) |
39.7 (103.5) |
38.1 (100.6) |
31.5 (88.7) |
29.5 (85.1) |
20.7 (69.3) |
16.8 (62.2) |
39.7 (103.5) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 8.9 (48.0) |
9.4 (48.9) |
11.4 (52.5) |
13.6 (56.5) |
16.4 (61.5) |
19.3 (66.7) |
21.4 (70.5) |
21.6 (70.9) |
19.5 (67.1) |
15.8 (60.4) |
12.0 (53.6) |
9.5 (49.1) |
14.9 (58.8) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 6.3 (43.3) |
6.5 (43.7) |
8.0 (46.4) |
9.8 (49.6) |
12.5 (54.5) |
15.3 (59.5) |
17.2 (63.0) |
17.4 (63.3) |
15.5 (59.9) |
12.6 (54.7) |
9.2 (48.6) |
6.9 (44.4) |
11.4 (52.5) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 3.8 (38.8) |
3.6 (38.5) |
4.7 (40.5) |
6.0 (42.8) |
8.6 (47.5) |
11.2 (52.2) |
13.0 (55.4) |
13.2 (55.8) |
11.5 (52.7) |
9.4 (48.9) |
6.5 (43.7) |
4.3 (39.7) |
8.0 (46.4) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −11.3 (11.7) |
−9.4 (15.1) |
−3.9 (25.0) |
−1.8 (28.8) |
1.1 (34.0) |
3.6 (38.5) |
7.1 (44.8) |
6.6 (43.9) |
4.5 (40.1) |
−3.9 (25.0) |
−4.8 (23.4) |
−7.2 (19.0) |
−11.3 (11.7) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 74.2 (2.92) |
64.5 (2.54) |
53.3 (2.10) |
59.7 (2.35) |
56.2 (2.21) |
50.7 (2.00) |
41.9 (1.65) |
44.5 (1.75) |
52.4 (2.06) |
81.6 (3.21) |
87.7 (3.45) |
90.6 (3.57) |
757.3 (29.81) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 13.5 | 12.4 | 10.6 | 10.9 | 9.2 | 7.8 | 7.3 | 7.6 | 8.4 | 12.8 | 14.2 | 14.8 | 129.6 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 65.2 | 82.9 | 121.6 | 163.2 | 188.1 | 196.2 | 198.1 | 181.8 | 164.0 | 109.6 | 79.3 | 65.9 | 1,615.9 |
| Source: Meteociel | |||||||||||||
03Culture
Saint-Brieuc is one of the towns in Europe that host the IU Honors Program.
The Cemetery of Saint Michel contains graves of several notable Bretons, and sculptures by Paul le Goff and Jean Boucher. Outside the wall is Armel Beaufils's statue of Anatole Le Braz. Le Goff, who was killed with his two brothers in World War I, is also commemorated in a street and with his major sculptural work La forme se dégageant de la matière in the central gardens, which also includes a memorial to him by Jules-Charles Le Bozec and work by Francis Renaud.
The town of St. Brieux in Saskatchewan, Canada is named after Saint-Brieuc of Brittany. It was founded by immigrants from this region in Brittany. It was settled in the early 1900s.
04Demographics
Inhabitants of Saint-Brieuc are called Briochins in French.
| Historical population | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
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| Source: EHESS and INSEE (1968-2023) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
05Breton language
In 2008, 3.98% of primary school children attended bilingual schools.
06Transport
The Saint-Brieuc railway station, situated on the Paris-Brest railway, is connected by TGV Atlantique to Paris Montparnasse station, with a journey time of about 3 hours.
There are no scheduled air services from Saint-Brieuc, Armor Airport.
07Notable people
Saint-Brieuc has been the place of residence for many notable people.
- Yann Fouéré (1910-2011), Breton nationalist, journalist and author
- Patrice Carteron (born 1970), footballer
- Octave-Louis Aubert (1870-1950), editor
- Maryvonne Dupureur (1937-2008), athlete, Olympic 800m silver medallist
- Émile Durand (1830-1903), music theorist and teacher
- Léonard Charner (1797-1869), senator and Admiral of France
- Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam (1838-1889), symbolist writer
- Célestin Bouglé (1870-1940), philosopher
- Louis Guilloux (1899-1980), writer
- Patrick Dewaere (1947-1982), actor
- Kévin Théophile-Catherine (born 1989), footballer
- Louis Rossel (1844-1871), Army officer and Communard
- Florent Du Bois de Villerabel (1877-1951), archbishop forced to resign after the Liberation of France in World War II
- Mamadou Wagué (born 1990), footballer
- Raymond Hains (1926-2005), artist
- Anaclet Wamba (born 1960), boxer
- Yelle (Julie Budet) (born 1983), musician
- Roland Fichet (born 1950), author, philosopher
- Jean-Christophe Boullion (born 1969), racing driver
- Alexandre Marsoin (born 1989), racing driver
08Twin towns
Saint-Brieuc préfecture of the Côtes-d'Armor is twinned with:
- Aberystwyth, Wales
- Agia Paraskevi, Greece
- Alsdorf, Germany
- Goražde, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Saint-Brieuc”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Cathedrale2.JPG by jonathaneo, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Bretagne historique.png by Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Saint-Brieuc-mairie.JPG by Presko, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Aéroport Saint-Brieuc.jpg by Spendeau, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Gare de St-Brieuc façade.JPG by Spendeau, CC BY-SA 3.0
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