Kervegan Street

Rue Kervégan, on the former Feydeau Island

The Nantes audio-guided tour has you cross Rue Kervégan, the main thoroughfare of the former Feydeau Island. Lined with fine eighteenth-century buildings, it keeps the singular atmosphere of a district long detached from the rest of the city.

An island of shipowners

Feydeau Island was originally separated from Nantes by arms of the Loire. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the filling in of these arms attached it to the city. Before that, it was a private district, reserved for the wealthy Nantes shipowners, those operators of merchant ships who fitted out the boats and managed crews and goods. Their fine buildings recall the prosperity of the port city, whose wealth came in part from the triangular trade and the slave trade, a painful memory that should be recalled with gravity.

What there is to see

The old Feydeau district keeps its island shape and an atmosphere detached from the rest of the centre. Its eighteenth-century buildings, with their sculpted façades and mascarons, illustrate the opulence of the shipowners. A curiosity shared with other streets of the city, some of these constructions, built on unstable ground, lean slightly. It is an elegant walk along the commercial history of Nantes.

Practical information

Rue Kervégan crosses the former Feydeau Island, in the heart of the city centre of Nantes. It can be walked freely at all hours and on the level. The buildings, largely private, can be contemplated from the street, along the walk in this district of preserved charm.

What was Feydeau Island?

An island separated from Nantes by arms of the Loire, reserved for the wealthy shipowners, attached to the city at the beginning of the twentieth century after the filling in of the river arms.

Why are the buildings so beautiful?

They testify to the wealth of the eighteenth-century Nantes shipowners, whose prosperity came in part from maritime and triangular trade.