Wilson Square

Place Wilson

More than three hundred years of history have shaped this square, a stop on the Brest audio-guided tour. Designed in 1694 by the famous architect Vauban, it originally served as a drill ground for the marine guards.

From the battlefield to Wilson

Once called the Battlefield, then place de la Liberte during the Revolution, it took the name place Wilson in 1918, after the brief visit of the American president Woodrow Wilson, who signed the Treaty of Versailles a year later at the end of the First World War.

What to see

At the centre of the square stands a bandstand whose architecture is very representative of the post-war period, in reinforced concrete, which the people of Brest nickname the flying saucer or the mushroom. It replaces the nineteenth-century bandstand, which once hosted almost daily open-air concerts.

Practical information

Place Wilson is in the reconstructed city centre of Brest. Freely accessible, it can be discovered at any time and is a pleasant landmark in the heart of the city.

Who designed place Wilson ?

It was designed in 1694 by the architect Vauban as a drill ground for the marine guards.

Why the name place Wilson ?

In tribute to the American president Woodrow Wilson, who visited Brest in 1918.