Plan of Vitré in 1811 Showing City Walls
- A—Château
- B—Place du Château
- C—Fosses
- D—Dependencies of Château (non-existent to-day)
- F—Porte d’Enhayt
- G—Porte de Gastesel
- H—Eglise Notre Dame
All the activity in the past has worked for the preservation of many ancient memorials.
The aspect of the town is not so ruinously picturesque as Fougères, nor again so trim and neat as Mayenne or Laval, but more than either of these it preserves to-day its ancient outlook at every turn.
“II n’est plus que Vitré en Bretagne, Avignon dans le Midi, qui conservent au milieu de notre époque leur intacte configuration du moyen-âge” (Victor Hugo).
The château itself has been recently restored, and ranks as one of the most perfectly preserved specimens of military architecture in all Brittany. One may visit the interior of this old fortress-château in the care of a painstaking porter.
The principal mass, known as the châtelet, is the best preserved, and, flanking it on both sides, are series of crenelated towers and machicolated walls. In the courtyard is the eleventh-century château, now incorporated in the later work.
On the same side is a charming Renaissance tower, built by Guy XVI., and known as the “Tribune of Tremoille.” The five sides of this admirable architectural detail are charmingly decorated in sculptured stone, and on one is the inscription taken from the Book of Job: “Post Tenebras Spero Lucem,” the Tremoille motto.
