Normandy, Brittany & the Best of the North_ With Paris (Fodor's) - Fodor's [25]
A good place to begin exploring Caen is the Hôtel d’Escoville, a stately mansion in the city center built by wealthy merchant Nicolas Le Valois d’Escoville in the 1530s. The building was badly damaged during the war but has since been restored; the austere facade conceals an elaborate inner courtyard, reflecting the Italian influence on early Renaissance Norman architecture. The on-site city tourist office is an excellent resource. | Pl. St-Pierre | 14000 | 02–31–27–14–14 | www.tourisme.caen.fr.
Across the square, beneath a 240-foot spire, is the late-Gothic church of St-Pierre, a riot of ornamental stonework.
Looming on a mound ahead of the church is the château—the ruins of William the Conqueror’s fortress, built in 1060 and sensitively restored after the war. The castle gardens are a perfect spot for strolling, and the ramparts afford good views of the city. The citadel also contains two museums and the medieval church of St-Georges, used for exhibitions.
The Musée des Beaux-Arts, within the castle’s walls, is a heavyweight among France’s provincial fine-arts museums. Its old masters collection includes works by Poussin, Perugino, Rembrandt, Titian, Tintoretto, van der Weyden, and Paolo Veronese; there’s also a wide range of 20th-century art. | Entrance by castle gateway | 14000 | 02–31–30–47–70 | www.ville-caen.fr/mba | Free | Wed.–Mon. 9:30–6.
The Musée de Normandie (Normandy Museum), in the mansion built for the castle governor, is dedicated to regional arts, such as ceramics and sculpture, plus some local archaeological finds. | Entrance by castle gateway | 14000 | 02–31–30–47–60 | www.ville-caen.fr/mdn | Free; €3 for exhibitions | June–Sept., daily 9:30–6; Oct.–May, Wed.–Mon. 9:30–6.
Caen’s finest church, of cathedral proportions, is part of the Abbaye aux Hommes (Men’s Abbey), built by William the Conqueror from local Caen stone (also used for Canterbury Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, and the Tower of London). The abbey was begun in Romanesque style in 1066 and expanded in the 18th century; its elegant buildings are now part of City Hall and some rooms are brightened by the city’s fine collection of paintings. Note the magnificent yet spare facade of the abbey church of St-Étienne, enhanced by two 11th-century towers topped by octagonal spires. Inside, what had been William the Conqueror’s tomb was destroyed by 16th-century Huguenots during the Wars of Religion. However, the choir still stands; it was the first to be built in Norman Gothic style, and many subsequent choirs were modeled after it. | Pl. Louis-Guillouard | 14000 | 02–31–30–42–81 | Tours €3 | Tours daily at 9:30, 11, 2:30, and 4.
The Abbaye aux Dames (Ladies’ Abbey) was founded by William the Conqueror’s wife, Matilda, in 1063. Once a hospital, the abbey—rebuilt in the 18th century—was restored in the 1980s by the Regional Council, which then promptly requisitioned it for office space; however, its elegant arcaded courtyard and ground-floor reception rooms can be admired during a free guided tour. You can also visit the squat Église de la Trinité (Trinity Church), a fine example of 11th-century Romanesque architecture, though its original spires were replaced by timid balustrades in the early 18th century. Note the intricate carvings on columns and arches in the chapel; the 11th-century crypt; and, in the choir, the marble slab commemorating Queen Matilda, buried here in 1083. | Pl. de la Reine-Mathilde | 14000 | 02–31–06–98–98 | Free | Tours daily at 2:30 and 4.
The Mémorial, an imaginative museum erected in 1988 on the north side of the city, is a must-see if you’re interested in World War II history. The stark, flat facade, with a narrow doorway symbolizing the Allies’ breach in the Nazi’s supposedly impregnable Atlantic Wall, opens onto an immense foyer containing a café, brasserie, shop, and British Typhoon aircraft suspended overhead. The museum itself is down a spiral ramp, lined with photos and documents charting the Nazi’s rise to power in the 1930s. The idea—hardly subtle but visually effective—is to suggest a descent into the hell