Vitré Gwitreg |
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A general view of Vitré
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Coordinates: 48°07′27″N 1°12′29″W / 48.1242°N 1.2081°WCoordinates: 48°07′27″N 1°12′29″W / 48.1242°N 1.2081°W | ||
Country | France | |
Region | Brittany | |
Department | Ille-et-Vilaine | |
Arrondissement | Fougères-Vitré | |
Canton | Vitré-Est and Vitré-Ouest | |
Intercommunality | Vitré | |
Government | ||
• Mayor (2014–2020) | Pierre Méhaignerie (UDI) | |
Area1 | 37.03 km2 (14.30 sq mi) | |
Population (2010)2 | 16,834 | |
• Density | 450/km2 (1,200/sq mi) | |
Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | |
• Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | |
INSEE/Postal code | 35360 /35500 | |
Elevation | 56–127 m (184–417 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.
Vitré (Breton: Gwitreg) is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department in Brittany in northwestern France.
Vitré, a sub-prefecture until 1926, is the seat of a canton of around 16,834 inhabitants (2010). It lies on the edge of Brittany, near Normandy, Maine, and Anjou. The town has been designated a ville d'art et d'histoire, a town of artistic and historic significance, by the Ministry of Culture in recognition of its rich cultural inheritance. Vitré is the 37th French city with the most historic buildings and has 14% of the historical monuments of the department.
"If I was not King of France, I want to be bourgeois from Vitré!" Henry IV, King of France, surprised by the richness of the city in 1598.
"The good fortune to see a Gothic city entire, complete, homogeneous, a few of which still remain, Nuremberg in Bavaria and Vittoria in Spain, can readily form an idea; or even smaller specimens, provided that they are well preserved, Vitré in Brittany, Nordhausen in Prussia." Victor Hugo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Book third, Chapter 2, A bird's eye view of Paris, 1831
The city is located on the slopes of the Vilaine river, along an east-west geographic depression which the national railway on the Paris-Rennes route follows.
Vitré commune is home to 100,000 inhabitants spread throughout seven cantons: Vitré-East, Vitré-West, Argentré-du-Plessis, Châteaubourg, La Guerche-de-Bretagne, Janzé and Retiers.