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La Consulaire

Buildings and structures in Brest, FranceHistory of AlgiersIndividual cannonsMilitary equipment of Algeria
La Consulaire (Baba Merzoug)
La Consulaire (Baba Merzoug)

La Consulaire is the name of a very large Algerian Barbary artillery piece which famously defended Algiers harbour. It was looted by the French during the Invasion of Algiers in 1830, on 5 July, and taken as a trophy to Brest, where it is still displayed. La Consulaire is a 23 -feet long smoothed-bore muzzle-loading gun, ordered by Hasan Pasha (son of Barbarossa) for the completion of the fortifications of Algiers. It was founded in Algiers in 1542 by a Venetian founder for Hasan Agha. Its original name is Baba Marzug ("lucky father"). The gun was used in 1683 to project the limbs of the consul of France, Jean Le Vacher, towards the fleet of Admiral Duquesne, earning it its name. In 1830, a fleet under Admiral Duperré conquered Algiers and captured the gun. It was brought back to Brest and mounted on a granite stand decorated with high reliefs, and is on display inside the military zone of the Arsenal, near Recouvrance Bridge.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article La Consulaire (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

La Consulaire
Boulevard de la Marine, Brest Recouvrance

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N 48.386111111111 ° E -4.4952777777778 °
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La Consulaire (Baba Merzoug)

Boulevard de la Marine
29200 Brest, Recouvrance
Brittany, France
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La Consulaire (Baba Merzoug)
La Consulaire (Baba Merzoug)
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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).