The Presqu'île must-sees

From your room or from the restaurant, in fine weather you can admire the Teignouse lighthouse, to which our street name refers. This lighthouse was built in 1843 to help boats pass through the Teignouse (an arm of the sea between Houat and Quiberon).

The Presqu'île must-sees

The Quiberon peninsula has been inhabited since prehistoric times. A few visible or invisible fragments of the passage of these ancestors remain. You can see traces of them in the menhirs and dolmens scattered across our territory, including the Kerbourgnec alignment (not far from the church of Saint Pierre Quiberon), or the burials overlooking Port Blanc. As for the unseen, Neolithic burials have been found on the Ilot Téviec and traces of settlements have been found at the Pointe du Beg er Vil. Covered walkway at Pointe de Guéritte, Dolmen du Conguel, Menhir de Goulvarc'h, Menhir couché (in two parts) du Manémeur, Tumulus de Kerniscop...

At low tide, you can see the end of the Kerbourgnec alignment and its cromlec'h from the large Penthièvre beach on the bay side.

The sea was much lower than it is today and the bay was partly a meadow. With the end of the Ice Age, the peninsula became an island. Access to the peninsula is difficult, as the only pedestrian access is through the marshes, passing through the village of Sainte

Barbe (a charming old village in the commune of Plouharnel). It was not until the 8th century that the island became a peninsula.

There are very few traces of antiquity on the peninsula, either from the Venetians or the Romans. All that remains is a stele found in the village of Kerné, as well as shards of pottery that can be seen at the Maison du Patrimoine in Quiberon. The Middle Ages left us with the Saint Clément chapel and its medieval cemetery, the first foundations of which date back to the 4th century.

We do know, however, that Quiberon was undoubtedly home to the Vikings, as the burial site of a Viking chieftain was discovered on the island of Groix.

The 18th century was an emotional time for the peninsula, as following the landing of the English in 1746, the peninsula was pillaged and burnt. The governor ordered the construction of Fort Penthièvre to defend the peninsula.

After the Revolution, it was the Chouans who ravaged the region, led by Georges Cadoudal (whose mausoleum is located near Auray). Royalists who had emigrated to England landed on the beach at Porigo in 1795. They were joined by the Chouans, who allied themselves with them and lost out to General Hoche's army (statue on the market square in Port Maria). Most of the royalists and Chouans were arrested and either imprisoned, guillotined or shot. A stele in front of the Porigo beach reminds us all of this memory, and the Chouannerie museum is located just inside the entrance to the peninsula, in a former bunker.

The industrial era also brought its share of new buildings. Lyon's silk manufacturers liked to holiday on the peninsula and had their second homes built. The Château Turpault next to the Port Maria pier on the Pointe de Beg er Lann is the most emblematic example of this period. The large houses along the Grande Plage also belong to this period.

Sardine factories flourished in Quiberon, and the town became the largest sardine port in France. There are only 2 factories left today, but just imagine when there were as many as 13 canneries in the 1950s!

Many celebrities from the 19th and 20th centuries liked to come to Quiberon to rest or stop off there before heading off to Belle-Ile: Flaubert, Sarah Bernard, Comte Robert de Montesquiou, Raynaldo Hahn and Edmond Rostand. These celebrities often stayed at the Hôtel de France, now Quiberon Town Hall. A fresco on the side of the building has been created to remind people of the famous people who came to stay in Quiberon.

The Second World War left some visible traces, notably the bunkers that line the Côte Sauvage. The Musée de la Chouannerie (Chouannery Museum) has been set up in the former bunker used to guard the port of Lorient. At the time of the Liberation, the peninsula was part of the Lorient pocket, so it was one of the last towns to be liberated.

For a long time, the Côte Sauvage was used as a military training ground, which is why you can still see remnants of barbed wire, a firing range, etc. Since the 1990s, it has belonged to the Conservatoire National du Littoral.

In 1964, the Louison Bobet Thalassotherapy Institute was opened under the management of Louison Bobet (a former cyclist).