The Place de la Poissonnerie (Fish Market Square), as well as the buildings around it, were all rebuilt after World War II.
The covered fish market is a work by the architects H. Auffret and J. Ardouin (1954) and the sculptor François Pellerin (Cancale 1915 - Rennes 1998), who won the first Grand Prix de Rome, within the context of an order from the Co-operative Association for the Reconstruction of Saint-Malo, chaired by the Mayor, Guy La Chambre.
The entrance to the covered market is a sculpture called L’Orbiche, which depicts a spiny dogfish in the shape of a small shark. It was restored in 2006.
The internal framework, which is evocative of the interior of a Breton chapel, is also sculpted in the shape of fishes, with simple geometric styling emphasised using black.
Right around the building, the beams above the fishmongers’ stalls feature an inscription engraved in the form of a light-hearted quatrain:
THE SEA CARRIES US
THE TIDE CARRIES US OFF COURSE
THE FISHERMAN TAKES US AWAY
IT IS HERE THAT HE HAS TAKEN ME
In the alcove on the corner of the building, there is a reproduction of a sculpture found there in 1944 depicting La Moune or an ugly woman holding a baby in her arms, which relates to an event that occurred in the neighbourhood.
