Caen

Caen is a city and a commune of northwestern France. It is the préfecture (administrative capital) of the Calvados département, and the capital of the administrative Basse-Normandie (Lower Normandy) région. Population 115,000, total urban sprawl around 200,000.

Monuments

Castle

The castle (Château de Caen), built ca. 1060 by William the Conqueror, who successfully conquered England in 1066, is one of the largest medieval fortresses of Western Europe. It remained an essential feature of Norman strategy and policy. At Christmas 1182 a royal court celebration for Christmas in the aula of Caen Castle brought together, Henry II and his sons, Richard Cœur de Lion and Jean sans Terre, receiving more than a thousand knights. Caen Castle and all Normandy was delivered to the French Crown in 1204. The castle saw several engagements during the Hundred Years War (1346, 1417, 1450) and was in use as a barracks as late as World War II. Today it serves as a museum enclosure. (See Timeline of Caen Castle)

Related Topics:
Château de Caen - 1060 - William the Conqueror - 1066 - Norman - 1182 - Aula - Henry II - Richard Cœur de Lion - Jean sans Terre - 1204 - Hundred Years War

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Abbeys

In repentance for marrying his cousin Mathilde de Flandres, William also ordered for two abbeys to be built:

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• Abbaye aux Hommes (Men's Abbey), the current town hall of Caen. It was completed in 1063 and is dedicated to St Etienne (St. Stephen).
• Abbaye aux Dames (Women's Abbey), current regional council (conseil régional) of Basse-Normandie. It was completed in 1060 and is dedicated to St Gilles.

Others

• Saint-Pierre church.
• Memorial pour la Paix, a Museum for Peace established in 1988, charting the events leading up to and after D-Day. It is an emotional presentation inviting meditation on the thought of Elie Wiesel: "Peace is not a gift from God to man, but a gift from man to himself".