Nantes was the capital of independent Brittany, then France's largest slave-trading port, then a shipbuilding giant that died in 1987. Its history is unusually honest — the city built Europe's first major memorial to the transatlantic slave trade on its own quays.
Fortress-palace begun in 1466 by François II, last duke of independent Brittany, and finished by his daughter Anne. Ramparts free daily 08:30–19:00; the 32-room history museum inside costs €9. Henri IV signed the Edict of Nantes here in 1598.
Begun 1434, finished 1891 — 457 years of construction. Inside stands the 1507 Renaissance tomb of François II and Marguerite de Foix, commissioned by Anne of Brittany. Free entry; reopened in 2025 after the 2020 fire.
Reopened 2024 after a decade of works. Holds the gold reliquary casket that contained Anne of Brittany's heart, plus Gallo-Roman finds from Condevincum, the Roman settlement that preceded Nantes. The 15th-century manor next door was a bishop's residence.
The 15th-century gate sits directly on top of the 3rd-century Gallo-Roman city wall — the courses of small Roman stone are visible at the base. Behind it, La Psalette holds the surviving half-timbered canons' houses.
Opened 2012 on Quai de la Fosse, where the ships loaded. A 350m underground passage carries 2,000 glass plaques naming every slaving expedition that left Nantes — the city armed roughly 1,750 voyages carrying 550,000 captives. Free, always open.
A former island, filled in during the 1930s. The 18th-century hôtels particuliers were built on slave-trade fortunes and are visibly tilting — their oak piles settled into the old riverbed. Carved African heads decorate the doorways of rue Kervégan.
Founded 1801 from Revolutionary confiscations, in an 1893 palace extended by the white-marble Cube in 2017. Strong on Georges de La Tour and Ingres. €9 full price, free the first Sunday of each month; closed Tuesdays.
Marks the reprisal shooting of 48 hostages in October 1941, after the Resistance killed Feldkommandant Karl Hotz on rue du Roi Albert. Nantes was made a Compagnon de la Libération for it — one of only five French cities.
The shipyard workers' own museum in a former Dubigeon building, telling the story of Nantes shipbuilding from 1760 to the closure in 1987 that put 6,000 people out of work. Models, tools and oral-history recordings. Around €3.
Brasserie opened 13 April 1895, its ceramic and mosaic interior listed as a historic monument since 1964. Jacques Demy filmed part of Lola here in 1961. The 1788 Graslin theatre opposite anchors Nantes' neoclassical quarter.
Botanical garden created in 1806 from a 1719 royal apothecary garden where ships' captains were legally obliged to deposit exotic seeds. Seven hectares, 10,000 species, magnolias planted in the 1800s. Free, open daily from 08:30.
The medieval core, named after the castle that stood here until 1848. The square held the guillotine during the Terror; in 1793 Jean-Baptiste Carrier drowned around 4,000 prisoners in the Loire nearby in the noyades de Nantes.