Heydar Aliyev Foundation organizes Days of Azerbaijan in Vannes, France

Vannes, May 3 (AzerTAc). The Heydar Aliyev Foundation has organized Days of Azerbaijan in Vannes, France, as part of “Cultural Treasures of Azerbaijan – the Pearl of Caucasus” project. The Days featured an exhibition and a concert. Addressing the opening ceremony of the exhibition, mayor of Vannes David Robo highlighted similarities between Baku and the French city. He stressed the importance of building cooperation between the two cities in agrarian and educational fields. Azerbaijani ambassador to France Elchin Amirbayov said Vannes was the 12th French city to host the Days of Azerbaijan. Noting the significance of cultural relations between Azerbaijan and France, the ambassador said similar events under the “Cultural Treasures of Azerbaijan – the Pearl of Caucasus” project would be arranged in 19 more French cities. Ambassador Amirbayov touched upon educational cooperation between the two countries, praising the fact that Azerbaijani language was taught at French Universities. The exhibition demonstrated samples of Azerbaijan`s culture, and visitors were presented brochures and booklets. The event featured performance of jazz pieces by Azerbaijani musicians Salman Gambarov, Isgandar Alasgarov and Emil Hasanov. Vannes is a commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France. It was founded over 2000 years ago. Vannes is located on the Gulf of Morbihan at the mouth of two rivers, the Marle and the Vincin. It is around 100 km northwest of Nantes and 450 km south west of Paris. Vannes is a market town and often linked to the sea. The name Vannes comes from the Veneti, a seafaring Celtic people who lived in the south-western part of Armorica in Gaul before the Roman invasions. The Veneti were defeated by Julius Caesar's fleet in 56 BC in front of Locmariaquer; all the Veneti were then either slaughtered or sold into slavery. The Romans settled a town called Darioritum (the romanized Gaulish name of Vannes) in a location previously belonging to the Veneti.