Bayeux is a French commune and one of the three sub-prefectures of
the Calvados department and the Normandy region, populated by 12,775
inhabitants.
Seat of bishopric since the fourth century and
sub-prefecture of Calvados, Bayeux is famous for its tapestry retracing,
in the form of embroidery, the conquest of England by William the
Conqueror, exhibited at the William the Conqueror Center and inscribed
since 2007 in the UNESCO Memory of the World register.
Capital of
Bessin, located a few kilometers from the landing beaches, Bayeux was
the first city that Operation Overlord liberated and one of the few in
Normandy to have remained intact after the fighting, thus preserving a
rich architectural and cultural heritage.
The small town of Baeu Taking the railway station and the Duomo as landmarks, it takes about half an hour - three quarters of an hour to visit the entire historic center, full of attractions and places to indulge in a stop.
Tapestry of Baeu), ☎ +33 02 31 51 25 50. 7,50 ridotto 09: 00-18:30
(March-October), 09:30-12:30 and 14:30-18: 00 (November-February).
Closed only during the Christmas and New Year holidays. The Baeueu
tapestry is one of those world famous masterpieces of art. It is a wool
and linen fabric 70 meters long and 50 cm high dating back to the secolo
On the fabric are represented the chronicles of the conquest of England
by William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy in 1066. In the artistic
cycle there is also the dramatic scene of the assasinio of the English
Saxon King Harold and the coronation of William as King of England. A
visit to the tapestry takes an average of two hours.
Gothic
Cathedral, Rue du Gener de Dais 4, ☎ +33 2 31 92 01 85. 09:30-12:00,
15:00-18:00. The immense and spectacular cathedral dominates the city
and is - together with the tapestry-its symbol. Give yourself a good
half hour to walk around and within its walls, helped by the many
illustrative panels that you will cross. Even the basement of this
mighty building can be visited. Definitely a must-see of the city.
Museum of the Battle of Normandy, Boulevard Fabian W, ☎ +33 2 31 51 46
90. The museum illustrates some of the central events of the Second
World War by combining collections of original exhibits with popular
exhibitions and thematic routes. Inside you can watch movies in French
and English and take a look at the photos of the time.
German War
Cemetery (Cimetiere Militaire Allemand), N13, 61160 (between Baau+33 2
31 227076. Run by the Germans, this monumental cemetery houses the
remains of some 21,000 German soldiers who fought during World War II.
Bayeux has been the seat of a bishopric since the fourth century (it
merged in 1801 with the diocese of Lisieux to form the diocese of Bayeux
and Lisieux) and of a viscountcy from the time of the Duchy of Normandy
until 1749.
The seventeenth century is that of the development of
religious institutions under the impetus of François de Nesmond. Bayeux
was then a major construction site with the construction of the
seminary, the Hôtel-Dieu, the Benedictine convent, the Ursuline convent,
the Notre-Dame charity and more than a dozen private mansions. It must
be said that Bayeux crystallizes the clashes between Calvinists and
Catholics, the Protestant insurgents become masters of the city in 1562
and destroy a large part of the religious heritage (statues, stained
glass windows, etc.. Following the Council of Trent, Bayeux is a center
of the Counter-Reformation and, between 1615 and 1650, there are the
installation of five religious institutions as part of the
Counter-Reformation under the episcopate of François de Nesmond. The
city has one religious for every ten inhabitants. This period leaves
many characteristic seventeenth-century buildings such as the Nesmond
hotel which today houses the tapestry or the hospital. It is also the
time of the installation of the first lace factories. The development of
textile work then strengthens the industrious character of the city.
It was not until the beginning of the eighteenth century that the
city underwent profound modifications with the massive destruction of
the ramparts, the filling of the ditches and the construction of
mansions testifying to the luxury of the time. The 1770s are marked by
two important political events: the installation in Bayeux of the Grand
Council of Normandy and the establishment as part of the War of
independence of the United States of the military field of maneuver,
called camp of Vaussieux, at its gates. For some time, the city hosts
the highest judicial and military authorities of the kingdom.
Medieval Bayeux was the second city of ducal Normandy after Rouen,
but which lost its rank after the creation of Caen by William the
Conqueror, then becoming an episcopal and residential city. Spared by
the Second World War, the city has preserved many medieval remains,
modified all the same in the classical era and in the nineteenth
century.
Bayeux was surrounded by a wall that was 5 to 8 meters
high by 2 to 4 meters thick depending on the location, reinforced by 18
towers. The northern flank followed parallel, fifty meters further
north, the streets of Saint-Malo (Nos. 34 and 48) and Saint-Martin (Nos.
5, 6, 7). At No. 32 rue Saint-Malo, a rescue carried out in 1984-1985,
uncovered a section of the very flared "V"-shaped ditch about fifteen
meters wide by 4.80 meters deep and the bucket of the enclosure which
was three meters wide. The eastern flank continues along Larcher Street.
The southern flank extended slightly back north of rue Tardif, to the
center of rue des Terres to end in a corner tower. The western flank
passed between the Royal and General-de-Dais streets.
Only the
north-west tower of the twelfth century remains, in a garden at No.
68bis rue Saint-Malo. The enclosure was pierced by four doors and a
postern of which nothing remains: the tree-lined door at the outlet of
the rue des Chanoines, the Saint-Vigoret door at the outlet of the
current Lambert-Leforestier street (at the bedside of the cathedral),
the Saint-Martin door at the outlet of the Saint-Martin street, a
postern at the outlet of the current Genas-Duhomme street, the
Saint-André door (surmounted by the Saint-André chapel) at the outlet of
the Saint-Malo street (in the axis of the tower north) and a tower-door
opening into the castle, at the level of the Castle square, current
Place de Gaulle. Remains of the rampart are still visible in various
places: fragments parallel to Bourbesneur street and in particular in
the courtyard of the Governor's Hotel, in General de Dais street, where
the terrace of a hotel rests on a piece of the rampart, in Larcher
street or in the parking lot of Genas-Duhomme street, as well as in
Saint-Malo Street, in the gardens (Nos. 4, 8 and 8bis).
Inside
this enclosure stood, in addition to the castle which occupied the
south-west corner, approximately in the center of Place
Charles-de-Gaulle, and the episcopal group, various religious and
secular buildings: the church of Saint-Nicolas des Courtils (remains),
the church of Saint-Martin (disappeared), the church of Saint-Malo
(disappeared), the chapel of Saint-Étienne (disappeared).
On the
forecourt of the cathedral, overlooking the house "The Lantern", stands
a thirteenth-century fireplace with its conical stone cap. Opposite the
chapter house is the Maison du Bienvenu, a fifteenth-century
half-timbered house decorated with sculptures. Taking the Rue de la
Maîtrise, which opens almost in front of the cathedral and which led to
the castle, on the left there are canonical houses, one of which, dated
from the fourteenth century, has mullioned windows, and a border of
quatrefoils at the top of the facade. The house that follows has the
remains of a broken-arched window as well as a beautiful portal.
Opposite, in the courtyard, a triangular pediment, remains of a chapel.
At No. 7 rue Bourbesneur, a beautiful fifteenth-century porch and a
pointed gable from the same period pierced by a Gothic window, and not
visible from the street, on the back a fourteenth-century window. On the
other side, at No. 10, the fifteenth-century Governor's Hotel, slightly
redesigned: Renaissance window, crowning of the side staircase turret.
It was here that the governor of the castle stayed rather than in the
fortress. In the Middle Ages, at the corner of the street there was a
Templar house, and after turning left into the Rue des Canons, on the
right, a porch and buttresses, remains of a medieval building.
By
taking the rue des Cuisiniers, which was the district of the rôtisseurs,
located between the cathedral and the rue Saint-Martin, on the right, a
small stone house from the late Middle Ages (fifteenth century), at No.
10, a Gothic wooden door, on a more recent facade and a corridor that
leads into a small medieval courtyard. Further on, on the left, a wooden
house overhangs the street, then then again a small corridor leading to
a courtyard where you can see the rear facade (south facade) of a wooden
house (the street facade has disappeared).
At the corner of rue
des Cuisiniers and rue Saint-Martin, a fourteenth-century wooden house,
the oldest wooden house in Bayeux. It was an old hotel where we stayed
on foot because it did not have stables. Going up the rue Saint-Martin,
at No. 69 stands a wooden house. The other corner of the street was
occupied by an important Templar house destroyed in the eighteenth
century. Continuing, rue Saint-Malo, on the right, at No. 4, is the
wooden facade of the grand hôtel d'argouges, decorated with carvings on
wooden poles, and which has on its back a stair tower with a very carved
Gothic door. At Nos. 8 and 8 bis, the house whose facade was scraped and
pierced in the nineteenth century, but which has retained its structure
has inside several frames of medieval doors. A little further away, what
is nowadays No. 10, 10 bis and ter, No. 12, stood the old Saint-Malo
church, destroyed during the Revolution. Further on, at Nos. 60-62,
facing the exit with the rue Général de Dais, in a courtyard, is the
small manor house of Argouges-Gratot from the end of the fifteenth
century, near the north tower of the enclosure.
Rue du
Général-de-Dais, there is a fragment of a medieval house in an
eighteenth-century hotel, and further on, on the left, in a courtyard,
the north arm of the transept of the old church of Saint-Nicolas des
Courtils. At the corner of Quincangrogne Street and the Court stood the
court and the prisons. At the corner of Rue Franche and rue de la
Juridiction is the Manoir de Gilles Buhot, a massive medieval house. The
Rubercy manor house at No. 5 rue Franche, a little before the wooden
house at No. 69 rue Saint-Martin, sports a tower from the late fifteenth
century. Rue de la Juridiction, at the end of a courtyard, remains a
medieval window reincorporated in a construction. At the end of this
last street, on the right, at No. 6 rue du Bienvenu, stands a wooden
house from the late Middle Ages, whose facade looks over the chapter
house, and whose two large windows have lost their mullions.
Outside the walls stood the churches of Saint-Patrice, Saint-Laurent,
Saint-Jean, La Madeleine. Only Saint-Laurent and Saint-Patrice remain,
which were rebuilt in the classical period.
In 1793, Joachim Langlois opened a porcelain factory in Valognes but it had to close in 1812 for financial reasons. He decides to transfer his activity to Bayeux in the former convent of the Benedictines vacant after the Revolution. There are three stages in the history of the manufacture that coincide with the three ruling families: the Langlois era (1812-1849), the Gosse era (1849-1878) and the Morlent era (1878-1951). The manufacture supplies itself with kaolin in the town of Piles. This raw material is renowned for its strength and resistance to high temperatures and thermal shocks. During the Moravian period, the production specialized in parts intended for laboratories and acquired an international reputation.
Bayeux lace is also famous. François de Nesmond entrusted the sisters
of the hospital with the task of taking care of the children assisted in
1676. They started making lace, but it was modest until the eighteenth
century before an important boom. In 1784, more than a thousand people
worked in the city's factories. Following the Revolution, the activity
separated from the Church, in 1824, twenty-five companies dedicated
themselves to the manufacture of lace, the most famous of which are the
Tardif and Carpentier-Delamare houses. The artisanal manufacture of
spindle lace has suffered greatly from mechanization and the last
workshop, the Lefébure house, closed in 1973. A lace Conservatory exists
in Bayeux and specializes in luxury creation, he has worked for Hermès,
Dior and Christian Lacroix. Bayeux lace is "built" with black silk
threads and spindle crossings.
Using spindles whose number is
related to the width and complexity of the lace to be made, the
lacemaker follows the lines drawn and the coded points on a stitched
cardboard and fixed on a loom. Large-sized laces consist of several
strips joined together using an invisible stitch made with a needle
called a hook stitch. Bayeux lace is famous for its ombré effects and
the richness of its decoration. Today, the lacemakers of Bayeux create
models with contemporary graphics.
Bobbin lace is the specialty of Bayeux lace. It is widespread in
Normandy, especially in the region of Caen and Bayeux, more dynamic both
in terms of lace creation and the importance of the manufactures that
have made its international reputation. The materials used are linen,
silk, and later cotton, especially in times of supply crisis. It is a
lace with a figurative design dominated by floral decorations. With
architectural motifs taken from classical ornamentation: pearls, hearts,
gadroons, stylized foliage (acanthus, palmettes, etc.) shells, basins,
tracery.
It is elaborated from the laces that were manufactured
in the region of Paris and Chantilly, the "Bayeux lace" really took
shape in the second half of the eighteenth century. To become a style in
its own right the following century.
Thus, it officially appears
at major exhibitions (universal, museums). She was then strongly
inspired by the image affirmed then by the needle lace of Alençon and
Argentan. Bayeux lace fascinates, fascinates and inspires collectors.
New designers are trying to perpetuate the tradition with new ideas and
new materials, while applying the know-how specific to artisanal lace
making.
By train
Baeueu è can be reached by train (certainly the best way
to reach the city) thanks to the presence of a station of the French
state railways. It is located on the Paris – Cherbourg line, a short
distance from Caen. Every day from Paris and vice versa to Paris depart
numerous trains, although sometimes a change is required in Caen. The
journey to / from the capital takes two hours and costs an average of 40
€
Baeueu ospita is home to a good number of shops and small shops with a picturesque mixture of French culture and traditions and souvenir shops designed especially for tourists. If you want to save something you should look in the shops and shops outside the historic center.
In Baeueux you can find bars and restaurants for all tastes, from
those that sell just what you need for a snack to inns where you can
enjoy lucullian lunches or dinners. On the main boulevard you will be
spoiled for choice.
Moderate prices
Le Marsala-Pizzeria-Grill
Restaurant, rue des Cuisiniers. The restaurant serves pizza and snacks
at a low price; very welcoming staff.
Average prices
Le Petit
Bistrot.
The name of the locality is attested in the form Augustodurum in the
first century BC, civitas Baiocassium circa 400, Baiocas circa 410,
Baieus in 1155.
Capital of the ancient Gallic people of the
Badiocassi (see this name), it is the transfer of the name of the tribe
to the name of their city, according to a process frequently observed in
the Lower Empire (cf. Paris, Angers, Limoges, Tours, etc.).
The
gentilé seems to distinguish the Bajocasses from the Bayeusains
according to whether the inhabitants are respectively natives or not of
the locality.
Founded in the Gallo-Roman
period, in the 1st century BC under the name of
Augustodurum, Bayeux is the capital of Bessin formerly territory of
Bajocasses, people of ancient Gaul whose name appears in Pliny the
Elder. But the evidence of human occupation of the territory is
earlier, as evidenced by the fortified camp of the Cavalier
d'Escures in Commes with its fortifications overlooking the sea on
one side and the Aure valley on the other. Another fortified camp
existed at Castillon with an area of thirty-five hectares.
Historians have no evidence of the existence of a Celtic city prior
to the integration of Bessin into the Roman Empire. Bayeux was
undoubtedly limited to huts scattered on the banks of the Aure and
Drôme at the site of Saint-Loup-Hors and to the dwellings of the
Druids on Mount Phaunus where they celebrated their worship. Caesar
invaded the Gauls and one of his lieutenants, Titus Sabinus, entered
Bessin and submitted it to Roman domination.
The information
we have on the ancient Bayeux remains succinct. The city is
mentioned by Ptolemy, who lived under Antoninus Pius, under the name
of Noemagus Biducassium (for * Noviomagos Badiocasso: the new market
of Badiocassi) and kept this name until Roman domination. It was
later referred to as Bajocassum. The current main street was already
the main axis. Two thermal buildings, one under the current
Saint-Laurent church, the other under the old post office, rue
Laitière, are attested to testify to the adoption of Roman customs
and beliefs because a sculpted head of Minerva was found there. ,
kept at the Baron-Gérard museum. The discovery in the nineteenth
century of enormous carved blocks under the cathedral suggested the
existence of an important Roman building, which an excavation
campaign carried out in 1990 on the north aisle confirmed. The city
was built at an important crossroads between Noviomagus Lexoviorum
(Lisieux) and Alauna (Valognes), axis that follows the decumanus
maximus, the current Main street. The city first developed on the
west bank of the river, became an important commercial and craft
center in Normandy. On Mount Phaunus, shared between Bayeux and
Saint-Vigor-le-Grand, archaeological excavations have brought to
light the remains of necropolises. Mount Phaunus, a former Druidic
center, has greatly contributed to the construction of the religious
identity of the city.
The city surrounded itself at the end of the third century with an enclosure to protect itself from invasions which would be destroyed in the eighteenth century. Vast quadrangle of 400 meters side, one can still follow the approximate route. The cathedral occupied the south-eastern corner. The medieval castle, on the site of Place De Gaulle, was at the southwest corner. At the bottom of the gardens of Bourbesneur streets to the south and Saint-Malo to the north, some sections of the fortification remain. Bayeux was then one of the most important cities of the Seconde Lyonnaise which would become Normandy. It was one of the strong points of the litus saxonicum, the Roman Empire's coastal defense system against Saxon and Frisian pirates, and a Roman garrison of Batavian letes is attested there in the notitia dignitatum. Historians locate the martyrdom of Saint Floxel under Maximin the Thrace around 235-238 on Mount Phaunus. Saint Exupère would have given the first impetus to evangelization there. Saint Vigor, bishop of Bayeux slain a dragon there and created a monastery. In the 5th century, it is the installation of groups of Saxons from Lower Saxony and the region is called Otlinga saxonia. At the end of the sixth century, the population was Christianized and the city prospered and became a religious center, seat of an episcopate. In the 5th century, with the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Bayeux was attached to Neustria, the bishops increased their power and sometimes came from the royal family like Hugues, the nephew of Charles Martel.
The Vikings destroyed the city in 890 but it was rebuilt during the reign of Bothon at the beginning of the tenth century. In the eleventh century five towns were created outside the enclosure, mainly to the north and east, reflecting the development of the city during the ducal period. Under the impetus of Bishop Hugues II and his successor, Odon de Conteville, half-brother of William the Conqueror, the city was enriched with a new cathedral, dedicated in 1077. Yet it was during this period that the city is losing influence. William the Conqueror deciding in 1050 to install the capital of his duchy in Caen.
In 1105, when the duchy of Robert Courteheuse was invaded by his brother the King of England Henri Beauclerc, the city was defended by Gounier d'Aunay but taken and burned to set an example for other towns in Normandy. The annexation of Normandy to the royal Capetian domain in 1204 reinforces the political and economic importance of the latter. Bayeux then had about twenty parish churches or chapels; she is rich enough to buy a municipal charter from Richard the Lionheart.
Between the beginning of the
12th century and the end of the Hundred Years' War, Bayeux suffered
from looting on several occasions even if it remained intact until
1417, unlike Norman towns like Avranches or Caen. After the siege
and the capture of Caen by the King of England Henry V, the city
opened its doors to the English who seized it and sacked it for many
years, forcing it to submit to "their" king. On April 14, 1450, the
King of France Charles VII began the reconquest of Normandy with the
battle of Formigny and the siege of Bayeux where the English took
refuge from May 4 to 16. The count of Dunois takes over the city and
Charles VII amnesties its inhabitants. The year 1450 marks the
beginning of a period of prosperity, new families come to power, the
old having been decimated by war and epidemics. We build houses and
mansions with towers of which there are about sixty scattered
throughout the city. From now on, stone gradually supplants wood.
The Renaissance left few traces. Among the most beautiful
creations of the time, we find the Saint-Patrice church built
between 1544 and 1548 and the interior architecture of the chapel of
the former episcopal palace.
The Renaissance left few traces. Among the most beautiful creations
of the time, we find the Saint-Patrice church built between 1544 and
1548 and the interior architecture of the chapel of the former episcopal
palace.
In 1619, the plague settled again in Bayeux.
Bayeux, in the nineteenth century, famous for its agricultural soil,
its lace and its porcelain does not undergo profound modifications. It
still keeps its medieval layout and is enriched with bourgeois mansions.
From the time, we can discover the famous tapestry, called "Queen
Mathilde", which is the emblem. A library-museum opened its doors in
1835.
The city does not escape the upheavals brought by the
scientific and technical discoveries of the nineteenth century. The
Paris-Cherbourg railway line was inaugurated on August 4, 1858 by
Emperor Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie, public gas lighting appeared
in 1861, running water in 1886 and electricity in 1913. The first
cinema, the Normandy Cinema opened in 1923.
In 1940, Bayeux was occupied by German troops, which allowed them to
control the coasts.
The resistance networks are dismantled but
names remain, such as that of Guillaume Mercader, a cyclist who used his
training on the roads of Bessin to carry messages.
On June 7,
1944, the day after Operation Neptune, the British troops landed on the
Gold beach entered Bayeux, which became, for continental France, the
first important city and sub-prefecture to be liberated.
Bayeux,
miraculously, was spared during the Allied bombings and the fighting of
June 1944. It is indeed far enough from the side to escape the
preventive bombings and was chosen to serve as a hospital town for the
British in order to welcome and treat thousands of wounded victims of
the bombings or the fighting of the Battle of Normandy (the military
victims who die there are also found in the largest British cemetery of
the Second World War. Schools, monasteries and colleges are transformed
into makeshift hospitals. It is thus one of the few towns in Calvados to
have remained completely intact.
On June 14, as soon as he
arrived on French soil in Courseulles, General de Gaulle went to Bayeux,
which he crossed on foot, surrounded by an enthusiastic crowd, before
delivering a speech in which he affirmed France's membership in the
Allied countries. He installed François Coulet, Commissioner of the
Republic established by the Provisional Government of the French
Republic in the current sub-prefecture and appointed Raymond Triboulet
sub-prefect after the dismissal of Pierre Rochat, appointed by Vichy in
1942.
Many monuments commemorate this period, including the
largest British cemetery of the Second World War in France. It hosts
4,648 graves of soldiers from both sides, including 3,935 British, 17
Australians, 8 New Zealanders, 1 South African, 25 Poles, 3 French, 2
Czechs, 2 Italians, 7 Russians, 466 Germans and 1 unidentified. On a
memorial are inscribed the names of 2,808 missing soldiers: 1,537
British, 270 Canadians and 1 South African. The Memorial Museum of the
Battle of Normandy presents a rich collection of D-Day uniforms.
Charles de Gaulle returned to Bayeux on June 16, 1946 to inaugurate a
stele on the square that today bears his name. He then delivers the
Bayeux speech in which he presents the bases of what will become the
Constitution of 1958.
Bayeux is seven kilometers from the coast of the English Channel (landing beaches) and 30 kilometers west of Caen. The city, located between 32 and 67 meters above sea level for an average of 46 meters, is crossed by the Aure river. Bayeux is located on the road (RN 13) and rail routes Paris - Caen - Cherbourg. It is the capital of the Bessin country in the north-west of Calvados.
On the old building of the Armorican Massif, the region of Bessin and the Plain of Caen behave "during the Mesozoic as a border subjected to variations in sea level whether they are of epirogenic or eustatic origins. After a first filling in of the low points during the Triassic, the conquest of the Jurassic sea, towards the South and the West, is affirmed little by little, during three great cycles of transgression more and more broad. First of all, during the Lias, then in the Bajocian, finally during the Bathonian. The deposited formations are mainly calcareous in the Caen Countryside and more clayey in the Bessin. Many fossiliferous levels, whose thickness sometimes does not exceed more than one meter, can be found with great continuity".
In 2010, the climate of the municipality is of the frank oceanic
climate type, according to a CNRS study based on a series of data
covering the period 1971-2000. In 2020, Météo-France publishes a
typology of the climates of metropolitan France in which the
municipality is exposed to an oceanic climate and is in the Normandy
climate region (Cotentin, Orne), characterized by a relatively high
rainfall (850 mm /a) and a cool summer (15.5 ° C) and summer. At the
same time, the Normandy IPCC, a regional group of climate experts,
differentiates, for its part, in a 2020 study, three main types of
climates for the Normandy region, nuanced on a finer scale by local
geographical factors. According to this zoning, the town is exposed to a
"climate of sheltered plateaus", corresponding to the agricultural plain
from Caen to Falaise, downwind of the Normandy hills and close to the
sea, characterized by moderate rainfall and thermal constraints.
For the period 1971-2000, the average annual temperature is 10.9 ° C,
with an annual thermal amplitude of 11.4 ° C. The average annual
cumulative rainfall is 754 mm, with 13.4 days of precipitation in
January and 6.9 days in July. For the period 1991-2020 the annual
average temperature observed on the nearest meteorological station,
located in the town of Balleroy-sur-Drôme 15 km as the crow flies, is
11.2 ° C and the average annual cumulative rainfall is 924.3 mm. For the
future, the climate parameters of the municipality estimated for 2050
according to different greenhouse gas emission scenarios can be
consulted on a dedicated website published by Météo-France in November
2022.
Bayeux is an urban commune. It is indeed part of the dense
municipalities or of intermediate density, within the meaning of the
communal grid of density of the Insee.
It belongs to the urban
unit of Bayeux, an intra-departmental agglomeration grouping six
municipalities and 17,775 inhabitants in 2017, of which it is the
city-center.
In addition, the town is part of the Bayeux
attraction area, of which it is the town-center. This area, which
includes 29 municipalities, is categorized as areas with less than
50,000 inhabitants.
The land use of the municipality, as it appears from the European database of biophysical land use Corine Land Cover (CLC), is marked by the importance of artificial territories (83.3% in 2018), an increase compared to 1990 (75.7%). The detailed distribution in 2018 is as follows: urbanized areas (72.6%), meadows (10.9%), industrial or commercial areas and communication networks (10.7%), arable land (5.9%). The evolution of the land use of the municipality and its infrastructures can be observed on the various cartographic representations of the territory: the Cassini map (eighteenth century), the staff map (1820-1866) and the maps or aerial photos of the IGN for the current period (1950 to today).
Current services
Bayeux station is located on the
Paris-Saint-Lazare - Cherbourg line and the Caen-Rennes TER line.
The Bybus serves the city and the municipalities of
Saint-Martin-des-Entrées and Saint-Vigor-le-Grand with the main line,
Chojnice / Saint-Martin-des-Entrées and three services to the
neighborhoods. The Green bus network set up by the General Council
allows you to get to neighboring municipalities (lines 30, 47, 70, 71,
72, 73, 74, 77). Three thousand parking spaces in the city center make
it easy to park, most of the spaces being free. The Bypass is the Bayeux
ring road. A first section was built following the landing by the
British soldiers because the streets of the center were too narrow for
tanks. The bypass extended the national road 13 until the opening of the
Bayeux bypass to motorway standards (see: French motorway A13). The
cycling network is still very limited but improvements are planned.
The nearest airport is located in Caen-Carpiquet (21 km away) and
the maritime link to England, the Caen - Ouistreham - Portsmouth line
(32 km away).
The city of Bayeux is located on the Paris - Cherbourg railway line
completed in 1858, inaugurated by Napoleon III.
From 1899, Bayeux
was served by a railway of local interest connecting the city to
Port-en-Bessin and Courseulles-sur-Mer by the Calvados railways. The
line was extended to Balleroy in 1904. This network was decommissioned
in 1931 and 1932.
The first ring road built in France was that of
Bayeux in 1944. Following the June landings, the British army sought to
quickly bypass the city center and built a ring road, the "Bypass", in
three weeks. This equipment is today commonly called the "bi-pass" by
the inhabitants of the city and its surroundings.
The city of Bayeux is served by the "ByBus" network consisting of four lines and operated by Keolis.
Of the 6,900 housing units in the municipality, there are 2,800
individual housing units.
Bayeux has a proportion of social
housing of 42% on its territory, of which 80% are apartments.
The town is a flowery town having obtained three flowers at the
competition of flowery towns and villages.
The public garden with an
area of 2.6 hectares opened in 1864. The land was given to the city by
Charlemagne Jean-Delamare (1772-1858) to create a garden for
horticultural education, but it was converted into a public garden by
Eugène Bühler (1822-1907), to whom we also owe the development of the
Parc de la Tête d'Or in Lyon. The botanical garden has changed little
since that time. The park, the southern access avenue and the two
entrance pavilions have been registered, since December 2007, in the
inventory of historical monuments. The most famous tree is the weeping
beech, classified as a natural monument in 1932 and recipient of the
remarkable tree of France label since the year 2000. Its branches cover
an area of 1,250 square meters and are supported by metal frames.
The
Place Charles-de-Gaulle (former Castle square) in the heart of the city
is planted with one hundred and fifty lime trees, classified as natural
monuments in 1932, surrounding a vast lawn where many cultural events
take place.
The plane tree of Liberty, Place de la Liberté was
planted on March 30, 1797, by revolutionaries (10 germinal year V). It
is also classified as a natural monument and benefits from the
remarkable tree of France label.
The Reporters' Memorial, boulevard
Fabian-Ware, was inaugurated in 2006, as an extension of the Bayeux
Calvados-Normandy prize for war correspondents. It was designed by
Samuel Craquelin and pays tribute to journalists killed in the line of
duty since 1944, so a new stele is unveiled every year. This white
garden is a joint achievement of Reporters Without Borders and the
municipality of Bayeux.
A landscaped route allows you to follow the
banks of the Aure over the entire crossing of the city, from south to
north and up to Vaux-sur-Aure.
The station square was converted in
2013 into a multimodal hub with a landscaped forecourt and a garden that
opens a perspective towards the cathedral. The Guillaume Mercader
roundabout has been planted and decorated with the Libertad sculpture,
made of steel by Claude Quiesse.