Lorient

Founded in 1666 to serve as the home port of the French East India Company, whose distant trade gave the town its name, Lorient was almost entirely razed by the bombing of the Second World War because of its German submarine base, now converted into a cultural and tourist site. Rebuilt to a modern urban plan organised around its deep roadstead, the town has become one of France's great centres of competitive sailing, embodied by the Cité de la voile Éric Tabarly, which stages the adventure of the great sailors and their multihulls. Every summer, the Festival Interceltique de Lorient brings together for ten days artists and delegations from all the Celtic countries, making the town a major musical and cultural meeting that celebrates Breton roots well beyond the region.

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