Caen is a city in the north-west of France, the largest city and
capital of the Normandy region and the Calvados department. It is
located about 20 km from the sea. It is part of the Agglomeration
Community of Caen-la-Mer.
It is a university town, therefore
very active during the school year. In summer, many tourists
visiting the region stop over in Caen, mainly English and Germans
who have come for the Memorial and the remains of the Second World
War. Caen is a modern city since it was destroyed on half of its
surface in 1944. The city contains an exceptional historical
heritage: a large number of churches are located on a relatively
small perimeter. The reconstruction of the city (work of Marc
Brillaud de Laujardière), with a very Norman restraint, was hailed
as a success.
Weather
Caen enjoys an oceanic climate, that
is to say a temperate climate with cool summers and mild winters.
Caen temperatures are never excessive because of the proximity
to the sea. This neighborhood makes it possible on the one hand to
soften the too harsh winters and on the other to cool the summers
which would be too hot thanks to the presence of the breeze. , this
sea wind which cools the land as soon as the temperature on them
becomes much higher than that of the water.
Abbey of Saint-Étienne
The Abbaye aux Hommes, or Saint-Etienne
de Caen abbey, is one of the two great abbeys, along with the
Ladies' Abbey, founded by William the Bastard the future conqueror,
around 1060, in Caen, France. It rises to the west of the old city
center and gave the name of Bourg-l'Abbé to the district that
surrounds it. The Saint-Étienne church, the former abbey church,
became a parish church after the Revolution. The conventual
buildings, transformed into a high school in the 19th century, have
housed the town hall since the 1960s. The abbey offers a very
beautiful architectural ensemble built between the eleventh and
eighteenth centuries and the impact of the Saint-Etienne church in
Caen is essential on the history of Art in Normandy and England. The
church is classified as historical monuments on the list of 1840,
the cloister and convent buildings in 1911 and other constructions
registered in 1927 and 1928.
Caen Castle/ Château de Caen
The castle of Caen is a fortified
castle, founded around 1060 by William the Bastard, altered over the
centuries, which stands in the French commune of Caen in the
Calvados department, in the Normandy region. With its 5.5 hectares,
it is one of the largest castles in Europe.
Saint-Pierre
church in Caen
The Saint-Pierre de Caen church is one of the main
religious buildings in the old city center of Caen. This monument is
the subject of a classification as historical monuments by the list
of 1840.
The oldest surviving forms of the city name from the eleventh century are Cadon/Cadun, Cathim and Cadomo/Cadomi/Cadomum. However, based on similar derivations (especially at Rouen), it is assumed that a Celtic early form of Catumagos could have existed. This in turn means 'battlefield' as a composition of the two proto-Celtic words *katu- 'fight' (also in Old Irish cath, Breton kad) and *mago(s)- 'plain, field' (e.g. in Old Irish mag).
The oldest traces of a megalithic structure can be found at the nearby Pierre Tourneresse of Cairon.
According to archaeological investigations, a Gallo-Roman vicus developed during the Roman Empire from the 1st to the 3rd century AD in the area of the later Abbaye aux hommes, which was close to a Roman road connecting Augustodurum with Noviomagus Lexoviorum.
Caen, first mentioned in a document in 1027, experienced rapid urban
development in the 11th century. Referred to as a burgus (bourg), it was
the center of an extensive ducal domain, was at the crossroads of major
roads, and had markets and a port. An important city in the Duchy of
Normandy, it first flourished under William the Conqueror. He had a
strong fortress built in Caen and around 1059 an abbey for women (Abbaye
aux dames) and one for men (Abbaye aux hommes), in which he was also
buried. Later, during the Huguenot Wars (1562), his tomb was destroyed
and his bones were lost. Wilhelm's tombstone can still be seen in the
church today. He had the monasteries built to atone for his marriage to
his cousin Mathilde, which the Pope disapproved of. Both monasteries are
among the most important monuments in Normandy and are now used as
parish churches, abandoned by the monks and nuns during the French
Revolution.
King William II of England and his brother, Duke
Robert II of Normandy, made a treaty in Caen in 1091, settling their
differences. While the Norman conquest of England (1066) had already
promoted Caen's further boom, it also benefited from the fire in 1105 in
the city of Bayeux, which was its rival. Caen developed into a center of
intellectual life - so that the theologian Thibaud of Étampes († after
1120) studied here - and became one of the main residences of King Henry
I († 1135); then in the late 12th century the administrative center of
Normandy, as well as the seat of its highest court and court of accounts
(Echiquier). Many high-ranking citizens of Caen worked for the royal
financial administration. The so-called pierre de Caen, a local quarry
stone, represented the most important export product from the city port;
it was primarily exported to England. Between 5,000 and 10,000 people
may have lived in Caen at the beginning of the 13th century.
The
French King Philip II Augustus was able to take possession of Caen
without resistance in May 1204 and confirmed the city's freedoms granted
by Johann Ohneland on June 17th, 1203. However, it lost some of its
previous status as a political and intellectual center. After all, the
settlement development of Caens with its three districts (Bourg le Roi,
Bourg l'Abbé, Bourg l'Abbesse) continued. Louis IX stayed here in 1256
and 1269. In Caen there was now an important textile industry, whose
products such as sheets and linen fabrics were mainly exported to Italy.
Trade contacts with England, on the other hand, decreased.
In the
early stages of the Hundred Years' War, the city was conquered by King
Edward III on July 26, 1346. conquered and plundered by England before
moving on with his army and fighting the Battle of Crecy, which he won.
On October 8, 1346 Caen received from King Philip VI. permission from
France to build strong city walls. However, there was constant
insecurity in Caen and its environs, compounded by the plague and
rebellions by the inhabitants. Around 1357, an oath of six citizens
(bourgeois jurés) took over the management of a newly established city
government, which did not provide for the office of mayor.
King
Henry V of England conquered Caen in September 1417. It remained in
English hands until 1450, late in the Hundred Years' War. Most of the
residents preferred not to emigrate. During the reign of the Duke of
Bedford, the University of Caen was founded in January 1432 and
officially began teaching in 1436. After the capitulation of the English
occupation, Caen fell back to the French crown in June 1450. Thus, on
July 6, 1450, King Charles VII was able to hold his ceremonial entry
into Caen. Since then, the city has belonged permanently to France.
Charles VII confirmed the status of the university established under
English rule. Louis XI signed a treaty of alliance with the Duke of
Brittany in Caen on December 23, 1465. The king was unable to revive the
city's economy, which had been declining since the French reconquest;
his attempts to set up large trade fairs in Caen in 1470 failed.
Meanwhile intellectual life at least began to flourish again. It was not
until the early 16th century that a general rise began, so that Caen,
along with Rouen, became an important center for the spread of
Renaissance culture in Normandy.
In 1542 Caen became the seat of the generals for Lower Normandy. In
1547 and again in 1584 and 1624 plague epidemics raged in the city. The
Reformation found many supporters here. At the time of the Huguenot
Wars, Caen fell into the hands of the Huguenots in April 1562, but it
soon surrendered again to the French king. Later, with Coligny's help,
the Reformed conquered the castle. After the Edict of Amboise (March 19,
1563), Caen was less affected by the ongoing unrest. During the
existence of the Holy League, the city supported the king's party, and
in 1589 the parliamentarians of Normandy, loyal to the king, temporarily
went here. In 1639 the uprising of the Nu-pieds (i.e. "barefooted ones")
was cruelly suppressed.
During the reign of Louis XIV, the city
experienced an economic boom, but this ended when the Huguenots
emigrated in 1685 following the repeal of the Edict of Nantes. In
addition, the port of the city silted up. In the period leading up to
the French Revolution, there were several riots as a result of high
grain prices. With the outbreak of the Revolution, on July 18, 1789, the
inhabitants seized the castle of Caen, of which Charles-François
Dumouriez had recently become commander. On August 12, 1789, a crowd
massacred the new castle commander, Henri de Belzunce. After the fall of
the Girondins (end of May 1793), General Wimpffen launched a failed
uprising against the Jacobins from Caen. Charlotte Corday, then living
in Caen, set out from here in July 1793 to assassinate Jean Paul Marat.
In 1815 the city was conquered by the Prussian First Army Corps and the
citadel was occupied.
During the First World War, a prisoner of war camp for German
soldiers was set up in Caen. When the Western Allies chose the Normandy
coast as the landing site for the invasion in 1944 during the Second
World War, Caen was of particular importance as a railway junction.
After the successful landing of the British, Canadians and Americans on
June 6, 1944 (D-Day), initially only the British together with French
commando units advanced on Caen; later other Allied troops joined them.
According to Operation Overlord, the plan was to occupy the city in a
few days, because the rapid capture of Caen as the first major city on
French soil would have had a major strategic and psychological war
effect.
The German defenders put up an unexpectedly massive
resistance. During the Battle of Caen, the city was almost completely
destroyed. It was not until July 19, 1944 that the British and Canadians
managed to completely capture Caen.
The reconstruction of Caen
lasted from 1948 to 1962. On June 6, 2004, Gerhard Schröder was the
first German Chancellor to be invited to the anniversary celebrations of
the invasion.
The inhabitants belong to the most diverse religions, the most widespread being Catholicism, followed by Protestants, Muslims and Jews. The high proportion of Muslims results from immigration from the former French colonies in Africa and Asia, who settled here after the Second World War.
Traffic
The Tramway de Caen, a track-guided trolleybus on
pneumatic tires, operated in Caen until December 31, 2017. For cost
reasons and because of numerous breakdowns, it was decided to
discontinue the system and replace it with a conventional tram. The
start of operations took place on July 27, 2019.
Caen-Carpiquet
Airport is located outside of the city, near the village of Carpiquet,
and offers a few domestic flights but also seasonal flights e.g. B. to
Spain, Malta and Croatia. With over 100,000 passengers a year, the
airport is the most important in Normandy. Caen also has a dense network
of bus routes. The city can also be reached by smaller boats via the
Canal de Caen à la Mer, which runs parallel to the River Orne to its
mouth at Ouistreham. In addition to the marina, the city of Caen also
has the commercial and ferry port of Caen-Ouistreham, with daily ferries
to Portsmouth. The railway line to Paris is to be partially rebuilt in
the coming decade and the journey time will be reduced from 1:45 hours
to one hour.
Established businesses
The company NXP
Semiconductors maintains a semiconductor plant with a research and
development department in Caen. There are also production facilities of
the companies Renault and Bosch. However, the largest employer in the
region is the university hospital. Caen is also the headquarters of
Groupe Hamelin, which manufactures stationery and office supplies.