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Lorient (; ) is a town ( commune) and Port in the Morbihan department of Brittany in western France.
The city's name is derived from Le Soleil d'Orient, the first ship constructed at the site, in 1669. Workers gave the site the name of the ship, which, by contraction, became simply L'Orient and finally Lorient.
The French Navy opened a base there in 1690, under the command of Colbert de Seignelay, who inherited his father's position as Secretary of State of the Navy. At the same time, from Saint-Malo took shelter there. In 1700, the town grew out of l'Enclot following a law forcing people to leave the domain to move to the Faouédic heath. In 1702, there were about 6,000 inhabitants in Lorient, though activities slowed, and the town began to decline.
Until the Company's closure, the city took advantage of its prosperity. In 1738, there were 14,000 inhabitants, or 20,000 considering the outlying villages of Kerentrech, Merville, La Perrière, Calvin, and Keryado, which are now neighbourhoods within the present-day city limits. In 1735, new streets were laid out and in 1738, it was granted city status. Further work was undertaken as the streets began to be paved, wharves and slipways were built along the Faouédic river, and thatching houses were replaced with stone buildings following 18th-century classical architecture style as it was the case for l'Enclos. In 1744, the city walls were erected, and proved quickly useful as Lorient was raided in September 1746. Following the demise of the Company, the city lost one-seventh of its population.
In 1769, the city evolved into a full-scale naval base for the French Navy when the King bought out the Company's infrastructures for 17,500,000 livre tournois. From 1775 on, the American Revolutionary War brought a surge in activity, as many privateers hailed from Lorient. When the war ended, transatlantic lines opened to the United States, and in 1785, a new commercial company started under Calonne's tutelage (then Controller-General of Finances) with the same goal as the previous entities, i.e. conducting trade in India and China, with again Lorient standing as its operative base.
The French Revolution and the subsequent Napoleonic wars put an end to trade for nearly two decades.
The city began to modernize in the second quarter of the century; in 1825, a roofed slipway and a drydock were added to the shipyards. A sardine cannery opened the same year. The first gasworks was built in 1845.
In the second half of the 19th century, the steam engine allowed the ports to strengthen their output. The first locomotive reached the city in 1865. In 1861, the original drydock was enlarged as a second one was dug out. The same year, the ironclad Couronne was built on a design directly inspired by the Gloire ship class, though unlike her wooden-hull predecessors, she was entirely made of iron. She was followed in 1876 by the ironclad Redoutable, the first ship in the world with a steel structure.
In 1889, fishing expanded following the creation of the municipal fish market, and the arrival of steam-powered in 1900. The Keroman fishing port construction started in 1920.
In 1943–1944, Lorient was nearly razed to the ground by Allied bombing, which failed to destroy the submarine pens despite 4,000 tons of bombs dropped. According to the book Steel Boats, Iron Hearts (by former crewman Hans Goebeler), after the Allies failed to damage the U-boat bunkers the bombing shifted to the city itself to deny the Germans workers and other resources. Before the bombings, thousands of leaflets were dropped on the population instructing the inhabitants to evacuate. Between 14 January 1943 and 17 February 1943, as many as 500 high-explosive and more than 60,000 incendiary bombs were dropped on Lorient.
After the Normandy landings in June 1944 and the Operation Cobra, Lorient was surrounded by Allied troops on 12 August 1944. Its usefulness as a naval base gone, Lorient was left in a state of siege, surrounded by the French Forces of the West, supported by a US infantry division. On 10 May 1945, the Atlantic pockets surrendered, two days after the official final unconditional surrender of Germany. In 1949, the city of Lorient was awarded the Legion of Honour and the Croix de guerre 1939–1945.
This temporary housing would stand from 10 to 40 years depending on the location. The last shack in the largest settlement, Soye, was torn down in 1991. Today, only a few buildings dating to the 18th century still stand.
The city comprises different neighbourhoods:
Adjacent towns:
The population data in the table and graph below refer to the commune of Lorient proper, in its geography at the given years. The commune of Lorient absorbed the former commune of Keryado in 1947.
In 2008, 2.71% of the children attended the bilingual schools in primary education. Ofis ar Brezhoneg: Enseignement bilingue
The Gare de Lorient is the railway station, offering connections to Quimper, Nantes, Rennes, Paris (less than three hours by TGV) and several regional destinations.
Following the German surrender the base was used by the French Navy, named for Jacques Stosskopf, a hero of the French Resistance who had worked there. The base was decommissioned in 1995 and turned over to civilian use. It's now a museum.
Lorient was also a staging port during the 2011–12 Volvo Ocean Race, as well as the starting point of la Solitaire du Figaro (2009 edition).
Eric Tabarly built three out of his six Pen Duick boats in Lorient.
Breton language
The municipality launched a linguistic plan through Ya d'ar brezhoneg on 25 January 2007.
Economy
Ports
Lorient is commonly referred to as La ville aux cinq ports ("the city of five ports"): military, fishing, commercial, passengers and yachting. In 2010, the sector represented 9,600 direct jobs for a total 12,000 jobs (with indirect jobs accounted for), or 12% of local employment.
Industry
From its founding, shipbuilding has always been of great importance to the city. DCNS continues the legacy of the formerly state-owned (colloquially known as l'Arsenal) that began operation in 1690. It still builds warships, mainly . There is also a substantial industrial base in Keroman to support the fishing fleet.
Transport
Lorient South Brittany Airport is situated just west of the city at Lann Bihoue. It operates charter flights and regular flights to Toulouse. It used to operate direct flights to Paris and Lyon all year long and other city such as London and Porto in the Summer.
Education
Schools in Lorient belong to the Academy of Rennes.
Tertiary
Military
Active units based near Lorient:
Lorient Submarine Base
Lorient was the location of an extensive submarine base, built by Kriegsmarine in World War II and used subsequently by the French Navy. BdU Karl Dönitz decided to construct the base on 28 June 1940. Between November 1940 and January 1942 a number of gigantic reinforced concrete structures were built. including three on the Keroman peninsula. They are called K1, K2 and K3. In 1944 work began on a fourth structure. The base was capable of sheltering thirty submarines. Lorient was damaged by Allied bombing raids but the naval base survived the war.
Culture
Events
Each year in August since 1970, Lorient hosts the Festival interceltique, bringing together artists from all the Celtic world (Brittany, Cornwall, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Galicia, Asturias, Australia, Acadia and Isle of Man). Each year, a Celtic nation is chosen as honored guest. It is one of the biggest festivals in Europe by attendance (800,000 people for the 40th edition)
Media
Lorient is home to TébéSud (formerly TyTélé), a local TV channel covering Morbihan through DTT.
Religion
Catholic churches are among the main religious landmarks of Lorient. While the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption was built in 1850 in a revivalist neo-Gothic style, the church of Saint Joan of Arc was built in a neo-Roman style in the 1930s by French architect Jean Desbois and a few years later in 1955, and the modernist church of Notre-Dame-de-Victoire is the highest point of Lorient with its 4-meter-high concrete bell tower though the population never really accepted this new style. Major Catholic festivals such as Christmas, Carnaval, Easter and the Pardon are celebrated as major feasts of the city.
Sports
Football
The most popular club in Lorient is FC Lorient, which currently play in Ligue 1, after winning Ligue 2 in 2020. They are nicknamed Merlucciidae. They play their home fixtures at Stade du Moustoir. Christian Gourcuff has managed the team for over 20 years (aggregate years).
Sailing
The converted submarine base has been home port to several skippers and their sailing teams:
Notable Lorientais
Arts and literature
Sailors
Politics
Sports
Sciences
Others
International relations
Lorient is twinned with:
See also
External links
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