| With a population of 200,000 Rennes is one of France's ten most important cities: a regional capital, an archbishopric, a cultural centre and a university town. It is an important economic centre (foodstuffs, car manufacture, communication and information technologies are the main industries). Rennes also has excellent shopping facilities both in the centre and on the periphery. Much of the city was rebuilt after a great fire in 1720 with wide streets and there was also severe damage during the war.
The remnants of the old town are somewhat lost in the centre of the city. Several of the finest buildings (Town Hall, Theatre, Law Courts) lie around the Place du Palais close to the cathedral. The Law Courts, which were the home of the Parliament of a semi-independent Brittany, were badly damaged by a fire in 1994. Rennes also has a fine art gallery and adjacent Brittany Museum, as well as the very attractive Thabor Botanical Gardens (picture). Parking can be very difficult near the old town.
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