René Laennec Statue

A visit to this charming Breton town wouldn’t be complete without stopping by this statue. After all, every local knows the man it honors—and by the end of this visit, you should too. His name is René Laennec, a native of Quimper whose keen eye and analytical mind helped revolutionize modern medicine. Yet, nothing in his early life seemed to point him toward such a destiny. Born in 1781, Laennec lost his mother when he was just five years old. His father, unable to care for him and his brother, entrusted them to relatives—first to a priestly uncle, and later to another uncle who was a doctor in Nantes. It was this second figure who would inspire Laennec to pursue medicine. He began studying at just 14 years old and, by 1803, had placed first in the national competition for medicine and surgery. Then, in 1816, while serving as head of department at the Necker Hospital in Paris, he made a breakthrough that changed everything: he developed the technique of mediate auscultation, made possible by his invention of the very first stethoscope in 1818. This single instrument would place him among the founding figures of modern scientific medicine. Laennec went on to receive numerous honors and served as personal physician to notable figures such as Chateaubriand and the Duchess of Berry. Today, listening to the heart and lungs—thanks to his innovation—continues to save lives, maybe even yours. So, if anyone deserves a statue in Quimper, it’s René Laennec. It was created by Eugène-Louis Lequesne—the same sculptor who made the famous saint that watches over Marseille from Notre-Dame de la Garde—and was unveiled in 1868. This statue remains the oldest bronze sculpture still standing in Quimper.