Visit to view the 18th century architecture and the Slavery Memorial in Nantes in September 2025 by Steve O’Regan
One of the visits made this year was to the “Memorial de L’Abolition de L’Esclavage”. The visit was made via one of the most interesting sites of Old Nantes, L’Île Feydeau. There was a good reason why this was done and how the two sites are connected was explained.
Our group met just to the north of the Ile Feydeau in the Place Bouffay. Our guide was a specialist in architecture who started by saying how the 18th century was when many of the famous squares and buildings were constructed, during a period when Nantes was very successful. This was due to its position on the west coast where trade to the Americas and Africa was important for the wealth of the town. This included the slave trade and is the link with the Ile Feydeau. The guide noted how the 18th century buildings were very ordered and uniform during this classical period. Clarity and form were important and there was no place for extravagance or excessive variety.
We crossed the road and the tram track, formerly the river bed. The Ile Feydeau only stopped being an island in the 1920s-40s when the surrounding river was filled in. Entering the Ile it is clearly seen how classical and symmetrical the central part is. Nowadays there are many restaurants and cafes and the atmosphere of the Ile is quite distinct. Deliveries to these establishments can make the area quite noisy due to the narrow cobblestone streets.
The guide gave us the history of the lotissements (parcels) of land which had been set up by an architect called Feydeau in 1720. Because of the unstable soil conditions, development was slow and didn’t really take off until the 1750s. Some of the allocated parcels of land were sold on and some enterprising developers bought adjacent plots to build spacious apartments with a central courtyard. We went into one of these courtyards and even though we were caught in a short lived torrential shower we appreciated the classical lines of the buildings and it was hard to imagine just how near we were to the bustling heart of Modern Nantes.
During this Ile Feydeau experience the guide pointed out the masques or mascarons, faces sculpted above the doors of characters either mythical or possibly faces of people of the time. Many of the luxury homes of the 18th century were owned by shipowners who profited from the slave trade. We exited the Ile on the south side where there is a long green strip which gives a good idea of where the river used to flow. We looked at a few more houses which had very impressive mascarons. It seems that Nantes is famous for these 18th century sculptures. We then crossed back to the Old Bourse, a splendid colonnaded building from the end of the 18th century, which was restored after bomb damage during World War II. It is now the FNAC bookshop.
We then proceeded from the Allee de la Bourse onto the Quai de la Fosse, where the Memorial is situated. At the far end of the Quai is where the naval shipyards used to be. These shipyards built many of the slave trade ships, the names of which are set into the path leading to the Memorial. None of the names, some of which are quite charming, give a clue about the cargoes they contained. The Memorial’s entrance is at the far end of a large promenade about 100 metres long. When we arrived at the entrance the guide gave a few final comments and then left us. The Memorial is the length of the promenade underground and deals with the global slave trade and its abolition, not just Nantes or France or Europe. Slavery was something that all societies practised. The exhibition is very well done and mainly bilingual (French/English). Although we were in a group, members worked their way individually through the exhibition and when we came to the exit, one by one, that was the end of the visit. Ideally one would return on one’s own to give the exhibition the time it deserves.