Lorient

Inhabitants of Lorient are called Lorientais.

Population: city: 61,844; urban area: 186,144. Lorient is the most populous commune in Morbihan, although the préfecture (capital) resides in the slightly smaller commune of Vannes.

History

At the beginning of the 17th century, merchants who were trading with India had established warehouses in Port-Louis. They later built additional warehouses across the bay in 1628, at the location which became known as L'Orient (the Orient in French). Later, the French East India Company, founded in 1664 and chartered by King Louis XIV, established shipyards there, thus giving an impetus to the development of the city.

Most of the city was destroyed during World War II and today's Lorient reflects an architectural style of the 1950s.

Geography

Lorient is located on the south coast of Brittany on the Atlantic Ocean. The rivers Blavet and Scorff enter the Atlantic Ocean at Lorient.

Industry

Lorient has a major fishing port, Port de Pêche (Breton: Porzh Pesketa), at Keroman and the docks area at Kergroise handle large cargo and passenger ships.

Tourism plays an important part in the cities' economy and there are several large yachting marinas around the bay. The annual Festival Interceltique de Lorient was founded in Lorient in 1971 and attracts large numbers of tourists to the area every summer.

Lorient was a former base of the French Navy but these links have now disappeared. However, many important former naval buildings remain around the quayside.

Lorient South Brittany Airport is situated 10 minutes drive to the west of the city, and has direct flights to several destinations.

Keroman Submarine Base

The former submarine base at Keroman

Lorient housed a German submarine base during World War II; although the city was heavily damaged by Allied bombing raids, the base survived through to the end of the war. As they could not destroy the base itself, the Allies decided to bomb the city, in order to cut supply lines to the U-boats. Without fuel, provisions or water, it became impossible for these submarines to return to the Atlantic. Between the 14 of January 1943 and the 17 of February 1943, as many as 500 explosive bombs and more than 60,000 incendiary bombs were dropped on the city. Lorient was almost completely destroyed, with nearly 90% of the city flattened, thousands of French civilians were killed.

Today the former submarine base of Keroman is open to the public and can be visited year-round. During the tour the submarine pens of block K3 can be seen. The roof area (3.40m to 7m thick) can be accessed, as well as a former anti aircraft defence tower high on top of the base. The tower affords an excellent view of the harbour and of the former headquarters of the German Commander Karl Dönitz across the bay at Larmor-Plage.

Miscellaneous

Lorient was the birthplace of Jules Simon (1814-1896), statesman and philosopher.
Lorient is the home of a major Celtic music festival, the Festival Interceltique de Lorient.
Lorient is the home of FC Lorient Bretagne Sud whose stadium, Stade du Moustoir, is in the city centre.
In the 2006 Tour de France, Lorient hosted the end of Stage 8.
In the , a level takes place in Lorient.

Twin towns

External links

Official website (in French)
Visiting Lorient
Festival Interceltique de Lorient
French Ministry of Culture list for Lorient (French)

Brittany (Breton: Breizh pronounced /bʁejs/; French: Bretagne, pronounced ^{?· i}
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Motto
Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité
"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"
Anthem
"La Marseillaise"

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L'Orient may refer to:

Lorient a place in France
L'Orient a part of Le Chenit in Switzerland
L'Orient was a French 118 gun ship of the line in the Napoleonic Wars, sunk at the Battle of the Nile.

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country, state, and nation can have various meanings. Therefore, diverse lists of these entities are possible. Wikipedia offers the following lists:

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Motto
Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité
"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"
Anthem
"La Marseillaise"

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Administrative divisions of France

Main article

Regions

(incl. overseas regions)

Departments

(incl.
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Arrondissement of Lorient
Cantons 15
Communes 60
Sous-préfecture Lorient
Population
- 1999 281,621
- Density 189/km²
Location

French Land Register data, which exclude lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km² (0.386 sq. mi.
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Administrative divisions of France

Main article

Regions

(incl. overseas regions)

Departments

(incl.
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A mayor (from the Latin māior, meaning "larger", "greater") is the modern title of the highest ranking municipal officer.

In many systems, the mayor is an elected politician who serves as chief executive and/or ceremonial official of many types of
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only, excluding overseas departments and territories, as well as former French colonies and protectorates. Algeria and its départements, although they were an integral part of metropolitan France until 1962, are not included in the figures.
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Postal codes were introduced in France in 1972, when La Poste introduced automated sorting.

Format

The postal code (French: code postal) consists of five digits, the first two digits being the number of the
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Breton}}}
Language codes
ISO 639-1: br
ISO 639-2: bre
ISO 639-3: bre Breton (Brezhoneg) is a Celtic language spoken by some of the inhabitants of Brittany (Breizh) in France.
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Administrative divisions of France

Main article

Regions

(incl. overseas regions)

Departments

(incl.
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port is a facility for receiving ships and transferring cargo. They are usually situated at the edge of an ocean, sea, river, or lake. Ports often have cargo-handling equipment such as cranes (operated by longshoremen) and forklifts for use in loading/unloading of ships, which may
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Morbihan

Coat of arms of the Morbihan department
Location

Administration
Department number: 56
Region: Bretagne
Prefecture: Vannes
Subprefectures: Lorient
Pontivy
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Administrative divisions of France

Main article

Regions

(incl. overseas regions)

Departments

(incl.
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Brittany (Breton: Breizh pronounced /bʁejs/; French: Bretagne, pronounced ^{?· i}
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Commune of
Vannes
Gwened

In the old town centre

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Protection is not an endorsement of the current [ version] ([ protection log]).
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Commune of
Port-Louis
Porzh-Loeiz

Citadel of Port-Louis

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8th century - 9th century - 10th century
850s 860s 870s - 880s - 890s 900s 910s
885 886 887 - 888 - 889 890 891

:
Subjects: Archaeology - Architecture -
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French (français, pronounced [fʁɑ̃ˈsɛ]) is a Romance language originally spoken in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Switzerland, and today by about 300 million people around the world as either
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French East India Company (French: La Compagnie française des Indes orientales or Compagnie française pour le commerce des Indes orientales) was a commercial enterprise, founded in 1664 to compete with the British and Dutch East India companies.
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Louis XIV (baptised as Louis-Dieudonné) (September 5, 1638 – September 1, 1715) ruled as King of France and of Navarre.

He acceded to the throne on May 14 1643, a few months before his fifth birthday, but did not assume actual personal control of the
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Shipyards and dockyards are places which repair and build ships. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance and basing activities than shipyards, which are sometimes
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Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions; with a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres (41.1 million square miles), it covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface.
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Origin Brittany
Mouth Atlantic Ocean
Basin countries France
Length 151 km

For the French flautist, see Michel Blavet

The Blavet
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marina is a port within a sheltered harbour where boats and yachts are kept in the water and where services geared to the needs of recreational boating are found.

The marina may have re-fueling, washing and repair facilities, small stores and restaurants catering to the
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The Festival Interceltique de Lorient (fr) or Gouelioù Etrekeltiek An Oriant (br) was founded in Lorient, Brittany in 1971. This annual gathering takes place in the heart of the city every August and features Celtic traditional, classical, folk, jazz and rock musicians,
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Lorient

Information about Lorient

Demographics

History

Geography

Industry

Keroman Submarine Base

Miscellaneous

Twin towns

See also

External links

Format