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Rue de Siam

Brest, FranceGeography of Brest, FranceHistory of Brest, FranceStreets in Brest, France
Brest tram Rue de Siam
Brest tram Rue de Siam

The rue de Siam (or Siam Street, Breton: Straed Siam) is the main arterial street of Brest, a port city in Brittany, France. Its name comes from the arrival of three ambassadors led by Kosa Pan, sent by the King of Siam on the 29 June 1686 to meet Louis XIV in Versailles. They went with six mandarins, three translators, two secretaries and a retinue of servants, loaded with presents. They traveled on the boats l'Oiseau and La Maligne. They crossed Saint-Pierre Street to go to the hostel of the same name. The inhabitants were so amazed that they renamed the street. The street was quite narrow before World War II. The rue de Siam is quoted by Jacques Prévert in his poem Barbara. Soi Charoen Krung 36 Alley, the location of French Embassy in Bangkok, was renamed in 2013 to "Rue de Brest" to commemorate diplomatic relations, reciprocating Rue de Siam.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Rue de Siam (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Rue de Siam
Rue de Siam, Brest Centre Ville

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Latitude Longitude
N 48.387202 ° E -4.490125 °
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Rue de Siam

Rue de Siam
29200 Brest, Centre Ville
Brittany, France
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Brest tram Rue de Siam
Brest tram Rue de Siam
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Brest, France
Brest, France

Brest (French pronunciation: [bʁɛst] (listen); Breton pronunciation: [bʀest]) is a port city in the Finistère department, Brittany. Located in a sheltered bay not far from the western tip of the peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon. The city is located on the western edge of continental France. With 142,722 inhabitants in a 2007 census, Brest forms Western Brittany's largest metropolitan area (with a population of 300,300 in total), ranking third behind only Nantes and Rennes in the whole of historic Brittany, and the 19th most populous city in France; moreover, Brest provides services to the one million inhabitants of Western Brittany. Although Brest is by far the largest city in Finistère, the préfecture (regional capital) of the department is the much smaller Quimper. During the Middle Ages, the history of Brest was the history of its castle. Then Richelieu made it a military harbour in 1631. Brest grew around its arsenal until the second part of the 20th century. Heavily damaged by the Allies' bombing raids during World War II, the city centre was completely rebuilt after the war. At the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, the deindustrialization of the city was followed by the development of the service sector. Nowadays, Brest is an important university town with 23,000 students. Besides a multidisciplinary university, the University of Western Brittany, Brest and its surrounding area possess several prestigious French elite schools such as École Navale (the French Naval Academy), Télécom Bretagne and the Superior National School of Advanced Techniques of Brittany (ENSTA Bretagne, formerly ENSIETA). Brest is also an important research centre, mainly focused on the sea, with among others the largest Ifremer (French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea) centre, le Cedre (Centre of Documentation, Research and Experimentation on Accidental Water Pollution) and the French Polar Institute. Brest's history has since the 17th century been linked to the sea: the Académie de Marine (Naval Academy) was founded in 1752 in this city. The aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle was built there. Every four years, Brest hosts the international festival of the sea, boats and sailors: it is a meeting of old riggings from around the world (Les Tonnerres de Brest).

Jardin botanique de l'Hôpital d'Instruction des Armées Clermont-Tonnerre
Jardin botanique de l'Hôpital d'Instruction des Armées Clermont-Tonnerre

The Jardin botanique de l'Hôpital d'Instruction des Armées Clermont-Tonnerre (Botanical Garden of the Teaching Hospital of the Clermont-Tonnerre Armies) is a botanical garden located on the grounds of the Hôpital d'Instruction des Armées Clermont-Tonnerre at Rue du Colonel Fonferrier, Brest, Finistère, in the region of Brittany, France. It is open to the public weekend afternoons; admission is free. The garden was begun in 1688 by Desclouzeaux, Intendant de la Marine at Brest, as a jardin des simples for herbs and medicines on the grounds of the royal naval hospital (established 1684). Under the supervision of chief gardener Antoine Laurent (1744-1820) it developed greatly to become an important adjunct to the Jardin du Roi (now Jardin des Plantes) in Paris, as Brest's mild climate favored the cultivation of a wide variety of exotic plants from around the world. By the 19th century it had become a major botanical garden, but the slow withering of its original medical function led to a progressive decline. The garden's remnants were almost totally destroyed in World War II, along with the hospital itself, but in subsequent years the garden has been gradually been restored. Today the garden's terraces are again open to the public, and still display some 19th-century accessions. The garden is described in Actu Santé as containing the oldest two Chinese palms in Europe, the largest Ginkgo biloba in Europe, and excellent specimens of Camellias and Gunnera manicata. Rare and valuable specimens are identified by signs.