Voyage à Nantes

The Voyage à Nantes is a tourist organisation which promotes the culture of Nantes in Pays de la Loire, France. It was created in 2011 as a société publique locale (local public company). The name also refers to a number of permanent public artworks in the area, as well as a yearly summer festival.

Each year since 2012, for the months of July and August, the Voyage à Nantes event hosts a number of cultural activities, mostly free of charge.^[1] All over the city of Nantes, a route with around 50 locations is marked by a green line painted on the ground which allows visitors to discover original, contemporary artworks alongside heritage sites, architecture and numerous viewpoints of the town^[2] and parts of Estuaire, an open-air art collection along the banks of the Loire river and the Saint-Nazaire coast.^[3]

Since 2022, there has been a winter edition called Voyage en Hiver.^[4]

In 2011, Nantes Metropolis (presided over at the time by Jean-Marc Ayrault) brought together the Office of Tourism, the Château des ducs de Bretagne (which includes the Nantes local history museum), les Machines de l'île and the existing Estuaire Nantes-Saint-Nazaire biennial to form a new brand called Voyage en France.^[5] Jean Blaise was appointed director.^[6]

Since its creation, the organisation has been based at 1 Rue Crucy in a former warehouse of the LU biscuit factory, designed by architect Auguste Bluysen. After the LU business moved out in the 1980s, the building was part of a reconstruction project completed in 1990 to convert it into offices.^[7]

In 2011, Gaëtan Chataigner made a promotional film, Jackie et Julie. The short film was released in spring 2012 and starred Julie Depardieu and Jackie Berroyer.^[8] In October 2012, Chataigner directed the short film Estuaire showing 28 works of art located on the estuary from Nantes to Saint-Nazaire, featuring singer Julien Doré in the lead role. The film was presented to the press and launched online on 28 January 2013.

• The Jardin des plantes de Nantes, which each year hosts landscapes designed by Claude Ponti
• Le Nid, panoramic bar on the 32nd floor of the Tour Bretagne (closed since 2020)
• The Memorial to the Abolition of Slavery, on quai de la Fosse, where 2,000 plaques represent the slave expeditions which departed from Nantes
• The Machines of the Isle of Nantes. On the site of a former shipyard, François Delarozière's La Machine company has its workshop in the Chantiers park, which is home to large animated puppets and attractions, including the Carrousel des mondes marins and
• L'Arbre à Basket in the Chantiers park, an artificial tree for playing basketball
• The Tomb of Francis II, Duke of Brittany in the cathedral.
• The Château des ducs de Bretagne located in the medieval quarter and home to the Museum of the History of Nantes.
• Le Lieu unique: former biscuit factory now home to galleries, cinema and performance spaces
• La Cantine, foodhall in a former banana warehouse
• Des stations gourmandes: picnic sites where the public can pick fruit and vegetables

• Le Voyage à Nantes