Île-d'Arz (; br, An Arzh, ) is an

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Arc ...

of nine islands and a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the

Morbihan Morbihan ( , ; br, Mor-Bihan ) is a department in the administrative region of Brittany, situated in the northwest of France. It is named after the Morbihan (''small sea'' in Breton), the enclosed sea that is the principal feature of the coastl ...

department,

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

,INSEE commune file
/ref> northwestern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, only to the southwest of

Vannes Vannes (; br, Gwened) is a commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France. It was founded over 2,000 years ago. History Celtic Era The name ''Vannes'' comes from the Veneti, a seafaring Celtic people who live ...

. It is located in the

Gulf of Morbihan The Gulf of Morbihan is a natural harbour on the coast of the department of Morbihan in southern Brittany, France. Its English name is taken from the French version, ''le golfe du Morbihan'', though it would be more precisely called 'the Mo ...

. Île d'Arz and Île-aux-Moines are the only two islands of the gulf that are also communes.

Demographics

Inhabitants of Île-d'Arz are called ''Iledarais''. At the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

of 1999, the island had a

resident Resident may refer to: People and functions * Resident minister, a representative of a government in a foreign country * Resident (medicine), a stage of postgraduate medical training * Resident (pharmacy), a stage of postgraduate pharmaceuti ...

population of 231. On 1 January 2019, the estimate was 221. The population goes as high as 2,500 during summer. The main island contains 550 houses, 30% of which are residential.

Economy

Lodging

There is one

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

open during the summer on the island and one

residential hotel An apartment hotel or aparthotel (also residential hotel, or extended-stay hotel) is a serviced apartment complex that uses a hotel-style booking system. It is similar to renting an apartment, but with no fixed contracts and occupants can "check ...

open during the whole year. There are two rural

gîte A gîte () is a type of accommodation that comes in a variety of forms, ranging from a gîtes d'etape, a hostel, for walkers and cyclists, to a gîte rural, a holiday home in the country available for rent, often an accessory dwelling unit. The t ...

s open the whole year. There is also one

campsite A campsite, also known as a campground or camping pitch, is a place used for overnight stay in an outdoor area. In British English, a ''campsite'' is an area, usually divided into a number of pitches, where people can camp overnight using te ...

which opens during the summer.

Artisans

There is one mason, one carpenter, one professional painter, and one

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer m ...

Transport

There is one bus service between the

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

and the

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

, three passenger boats which travel between the

and

and one merchandise ship which follows the same

trajectory A trajectory or flight path is the path that an object with mass in motion follows through space as a function of time. In classical mechanics, a trajectory is defined by Hamiltonian mechanics via canonical coordinates; hence, a complete tra ...

History

The main island has been inhabited since 4000 BC. Like other communes in the area, it has been populated by

Celts The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...

, Vénètes, the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

and the

Bretons The Bretons (; br, Bretoned or ''Vretoned,'' ) are a Celtic ethnic group native to Brittany. They trace much of their heritage to groups of Brittonic speakers who emigrated from southwestern Great Britain, particularly Cornwall and Devon, mo ...

who all came for the fertile land the area had to offer. From the 11th century to the French Revolution in 1789, the island was split in two causing considerable tensions, with the northern part administered by the Abbey of St Georges of Rennes and the southern part by the Abbey of St Gildas of Rhuys. The island was mainly composed of farms, mills, two priories and a church. The marine trade and taxes enabled the inhabitants to get resources from the mainland and further develop the island. Since the revolution, the island has had a long tradition of being the home of many sailors and was recently given the nickname of "Island of Captains".

Historical monuments

Notre Dame

In 1008,

Geoffrey I, Duke of Brittany Geoffrey I (c. 980 – 20 November 1008), also known as Geoffrey of Rennes and Geoffrey Berengar, was the eldest son of Duke Conan I of Brittany. He was Count of Rennes (ruler of the Romano-Frankish ''civitas'' of Rennes), by right of successio ...

, died and gave by his will the southern half of the island of Arz to the Abbey of St Gildas de Rhuys. He assigned a few peasants to start developing and cultivating the soil. Construction of the priory of Notre Dame was started in 1034 by monks seconded from the Abbey of St Gildas de Rhuys. Construction of the church of Notre Dame next to the priory was subsequently launched to serve the whole island, and was completed in 1412. In 1514, an agreement further made it official that this church was to fully serve both the southern and northern parts of the island. To this day, regular services are still held in the church. The priory of Notre Dame was acquired and renovated by the municipality in 1970 and now serves as both the town hall and school for the island.

KernoeI

The site has a long history, starting as a priory and becoming a private manor. In 1032, Alain III, the son of Geoffroy 1st, decided to create his own priory under the governance of the Abbey of St Georges of Rennes. He launched the construction of a female priory in the northern part of the island in the area of Kernoel. The owners of Kernoel from the 11th to the 14th centuries are unknown, but it seems that the

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The con ...

of Saint Georges de Rennes sold one of the main building along with some land to a nearby

lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...

. The first document found about an owner of the manor was Antoine Le Hen dating from July 1437. The family kept possession of the site with their descendants, Pierre Le Hen, Hervé Le Hen, Jean Le Hen, Pierre Le Hen who then named his own son Pierre Le Hen. Due to debts, the younger Pierre Le Hen is required to sell Kernoel. In 1628, the family Le Cloerec takes possession of Kernoel, but then also sells it in 1665 to the family Choumin/Touzé du Guernic who will keep possession of it until 1800. Jean-Vincent Touzé du Guernic is the last of this family to own Kernoel. He was born on 7 September 1732 and spent all his childhood on the island. He leaves it to pursue his studies at

, but returns at age 52. After the French revolution he was elected as the first Republican mayor in 1790. By 1795, directly or indirectly, he acquired and consolidated all Kernoel buildings and land from the church. During the post revolutionary terror years, Jean-Vincent struggled to protect the Ile d'Arz from numerous attacks from the Chouans who were sailing from mainland. Writing letters to his fellow Republicans on the continent, he kept requesting help to defend himself and the islanders who did not have their own army. The Chouans mercilessly attacked the island year after year, and eventually kidnapped the mayor in 1800. A few days later, to the grief of much of the island, his corpse was found, mutilated, deformed and almost unrecognizable. In 1823 Kernoel was bought by a priest, Jean-Mathurin Le Gal, and became a seminary, property of the church for the second time. During the first world war it was then owned by the department of Morbihan and sold again as private property in 1926. It became an algae drying factory and a farm until 1976 when it was extensively renovated to become a manor.

Berno Mill

The Berno Mill was built under the religious community Saint Gildas de Rhuys who exerted its power in the southern part of the main island. It is a

tide mill A tide mill is a water mill driven by tidal rise and fall. A dam with a sluice is created across a suitable tidal inlet, or a section of river estuary is made into a reservoir. As the tide comes in, it enters the mill pond through a one-way ga ...

and was, according to research built around the 13th century. There is no certainty to the exact date which it was built, the oldest document found concerning the mill was dating 1575. The mill kept functioning until 1910. Due to the lack of maintenance, the mill quickly degraded and became a ruin. On 28 November 1994, Jean Bulot, an Iledarais, created an association in order to restore the mill to its previous majestic state. Supported by a handful of volunteers, he managed to complete his project in June 2000.