Salle Pierre Guédou

The Pierre Guédou hall is a multipurpose municipal facility in Le Mans, located at 13 impasse Floréal, in the Miroir/Pontlieue area served by bus lines 14 and 16. About 450 m² in size (45 m by 10 m, with an 8 m ceiling height), it has a wood floor, a 36 m² stage, an adjoining 215 m² exhibition hall, and two meeting rooms that can hold 40 to 50 people each. A kitchen and sound system complete the facility, with an 87-space parking lot, 4 of which are reserved for people with reduced mobility.

Managed by the City of Le Mans as part of its municipal halls and neighborhood centers, it hosts local nonprofit activities year-round, including gymnastics, tai chi/qigong, and ballroom dancing, as well as receptions, family celebrations, general meetings, amateur shows, and events organized by neighborhood residents.

A bit of history

The hall is named after Pierre Guédou, a young communist resistance fighter from Le Mans, born on March 17, 1927, who settled in Le Mans behind the train station in the early 1930s. He joined the underground struggle at a very young age, took part in sabotage of railway equipment, and helped recover ration cards from several town halls in the Sarthe. Arrested on January 21, 1944, along with his mother, a liaison agent, he was sentenced to death on May 19, 1944, by the German FK 755 war tribunal and executed that same day, at age 17, at the Auvours camp (Champagné), alongside five other young FTP fighters. His name is engraved on the memorial plaque to Sarthe's communist resistance members, on avenue Jean-Jaurès in Le Mans.

In his honor, an alley in Le Mans and then the neighborhood community center took his name. The current Pierre Guédou building was put into service as part of the City of Le Mans' development of local facilities, and has since served as a hub for community life and a party hall for the neighborhood.