Roscoff Rosko |
|||
---|---|---|---|
Center of Roscoff from Sainte Barbe chapel
|
|||
|
|||
Coordinates: 48°43′38″N 3°59′04″W / 48.7272°N 3.9844°WCoordinates: 48°43′38″N 3°59′04″W / 48.7272°N 3.9844°W | |||
Country | France | ||
Region | Brittany | ||
Department | Finistère | ||
Arrondissement | Morlaix | ||
Canton | Saint-Pol-de-Léon | ||
Intercommunality | Pays Léonard | ||
Government | |||
• Mayor (2014–2020) | Joseph Séïté | ||
Area1 | 6.19 km2 (2.39 sq mi) | ||
Population (2008)2 | 3,648 | ||
• Density | 590/km2 (1,500/sq mi) | ||
Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
• Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
INSEE/Postal code | 29239 / 29680 | ||
Elevation | 0–58 m (0–190 ft) (avg. 6 m or 20 ft) |
||
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once. |
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
Roscoff (Breton: Rosko) is a commune in the Finistère département of Brittany in northwestern France.
Roscoff is renowned for its picturesque architecture, labeled "petite cité de caractère de Bretagne" (small town of character) since 2009. Roscoff is also a traditional departure point for Onion Johnnies.
After lobbying by local economic leaders headed by Alexis Gourvennec, the French government agreed in 1968 to provide a deep water port at Roscoff. Existing ferry operators were reluctant to take on the relatively long Plymouth/Roscoff crossing, so Gourvennec and colleagues founded Brittany Ferries. Since the early 1970s, Roscoff has been developed as a ferry port for the transport of Breton agricultural produce, and for car-based tourism. Brittany Ferries and Irish Ferries link Roscoff with both Ireland and the United Kingdom.
Due to the richness of iodine in the surrounding waters and the mild climate maintained by a sea current that only varies between 8 ° C and 18 °C, Roscoff is also a center of post-cure which gave rise to the concept of thalassotherapy in the latter half of the 19th century. A French doctor, Louis-Eugène Bagot opened Institut marin in Roscoff in 1899, the first center for thalassotherapy in Europe. Since then many important centers of thalassotherapy such as the Institut de Rockroum (originally Institut marin), the clinic Kerléna, and a heliomarin hospital founded in 1900, the Perharidy Center can be found on the edges of the sea of Roscoff.[2]
The nearby Île de Batz, called Enez Vaz in Breton, is a small island that can be reached by launch from the harbour.