Caen

Commune of Caen
Abbaye-aux-hommes.jpg
Abbaye aux Hommes
Location
Caen (France)
Caen
Caen
Administration
Country France
Region Basse-Normandie
Department Calvados
Arrondissement Caen
Intercommunality Caen la Mer
Mayor Philippe Duron
(2008-2014)
Statistics
Elevation 2–73 m
(avg. 8 m)
Land area¹ 25.70 km²
Population²
(1999)		 113,987 ( 275 000 in suburbs)
 - Density 4435/km² (1999)
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code 14118/ 14000, 14300
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
2 Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.
France

Caen (pronounced [kɑ̃]) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Basse-Normandie region. It is located 15 km (6 mi) inland from the English Channel.

Caen is known for its historical buildings built during the reign of William the Conqueror, who was buried here, and for the Battle for Caen—heavy fighting that took place in and around Caen during the Battle of Normandy in 1944, destroying much of the town.

Contents

History

Almost 600 years before the town was ruined in 1944 during World War II, it was similarly ravaged by war, when in 1346 King Edward III of England led his army against the city, hoping to loot the town, which was the richest in Normandy at the time. On 26 July 1346 his English troops stormed the town and sacked it, killing 3,000 of its citizens and burning much of the merchant's quarter. Whilst sacking the town, English officials searching the archives of the city, found a copy of the 1339 Franco-Norman plan to invade England, made between Philip VI of France and Normandy. This was subsequently sent back to England and used for propaganda purposes to justify the continuation of the war, and also the supplying/financing of the conflict. Only the castle of Caen held out, despite attempts at besieging it by the English soldiers. A few days later the English left, marching to the east and to their victory at the Battle of Crécy.

During the Battle of Normandy in World War II, Caen was liberated in early July, a month after the Normandy landings, particularly those of British I Corps on June 6, 1944. British and Canadian troops had been intended to capture the town on D-Day but were held north of the city until July 9, when an intense bombing campaign during Operation Charnwood destroyed much of the city but allowed the Allies to seize the western quarters of Caen, a month later than Montgomery's original plan. During the battle, many of the town's inhabitants sought refuge in the Abbaye aux Hommes (Men's Abbey), built by William the Conqueror some 800 years before. Post-WWII re-construction of the city that included the re-construction of complete districts of the city and the university campus took 14 years (1948-1962) and led to the current urbanization of Caen. Caen lost many of its historic quarters and its historic university campus because of the war and, as such, doesn't have, as some would call it, the 'feel' of a traditional Normandy town such as Honfleur, Rouen, Cabourg, Deauville and Bayeux.

The Canadian Army Film and Photo Unit filmed the D-Day offensive and Orne breakout several weeks later, then returned several months later to document the town's recovery efforts. The resulting film You Can't Kill a City is preserved at the National Archives of Canada.

From 1912 to 1993, the SMN produced steel at the SMN plant to the East of the city. The land is now an industrial estate used by the food industry.

Images

Etymology

Year 1070 of the Parker manuscript[1] of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle refers to Caen as "Kadum" [1]. Despite a lack of sources as to the origin of the settlements, the name Caen would seem to be of Gaulish origin, from the words cato, referring to military activities and magos, field, hence meaning manoeuvre field.[2].

Geography

Caen is in an area of high humidity. The Orne flows through the city, as well as different small rivers known as les Odons, most of them having been buried under the city to improve urban hygiene.

Caen sits 10 km (6 mi) away from the Channel. A canal that is parallel to the Orne was built during the reign of Napoleon III to be able to link the city to the sea at all times. The canal reaches the English Channel at Ouistreham. A lock enables the canal to withstand the effects of the tide and permits large ships to navigate up the canal to Caen's freshwater harbours.

Main sights

Castle

The castle, Château de Caen, built circa 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 the Lionheart and John Lackland, receiving more than a thousand knights. Caen Castle, along with all of Normandy, was handed over 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, the castle serves as a museum that houses the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Caen (Museum of Fine Arts of Caen) and Musée de Normandie (Museum of Normandy) along with many periodical exhibitions about arts and history . (See Timeline of Caen Castle)

Abbeys

In repentance for marrying his cousin Mathilda of Flanders, William ordered two abbeys to be built on Pope's encouragement:

Others

Administration

The coat of arms of Caen.

Recent Mayors of Caen have included:

In 1952, the small commune of Venoix became part of Caen.

In 1990, the agglomeration of Caen was organized into a district, transformed in 2002 into a Communauté d'agglomération (Grand Caen (Greater Caen), renamed Caen la Mer in 2004), gathers 29 towns and villages, including Villons-les-Buissons, Lions-sur-mer, Hermanville-sur-mer, which joined the Communauté d'agglomération in 2004. The population of the "communauté d'agglomération" is around 220000 inhabitants.

In the former administrative organisation, Caen was a part of 9 cantons, of which it is the chief town. These cantons contain a total of 13 towns. Caen gives its name to a 10th canton, of which it is not part.

Transport

Caen has a recently built, controversial guided bus system - built by Bombardier Transportation and modelled on its Guided Light Transit technology - and a very efficient network of city buses, operated under the name Twisto. Faced with the residents' anger against the project, the municipality had to pursue the project with only 23% of the population in favour of the new form of transport - residents were in favour of trams rather than buses. The road layout of the city centre was deeply transformed and the formerly traffic-jam-free centre's problems are still unresolved. The city is also connected to the rest of the Calvados département by the Bus Verts du Calvados bus network.

Caen - Carpiquet Airport is the biggest airport in Lower-Normandy considering the number of passengers that it serves every year, and offers commuting possibilities to the whole of Europe. Most flights are operated by Brit Air and Chalair Aviation and the French national airline Air France operates three daily flights to the French city of Lyon, while in the summer there are many charter flights to Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria.

Caen is served by the small port of Ouistreham, lying at the mouth of the Caen Canal where it meets the English Channel. A ferry service operates between Portsmouth, England and Caen/Ouistreham running both standard roll-on-roll-off car ferries and supercat fast ferries, with the latter making crossing from March to November. The ferry terminal is 15 km from Caen with a daytime shuttle bus service for foot passengers.

Caen is connected to the rest of France by motorways to Paris (A13), Brittany (A84) and soon to Le Mans (A28). The A13 is a toll road while the A84 is a toll-free motorway. The city is encircled by the N814 ring-road that was completed in the late 1990s. The N13 connects Caen to Cherbourg and to Paris. The A13/N814 ring-road includes an impressive viaduct called the Viaduc de Calix that goes over the River Orne and the canal linking the city to the sea to permit cargo ships and ferries to dock in the port of Caen. Ferries which have docked include the Quiberon and the Duc de Normandie.

Although a fraction of what it used to be remains, Caen once boasted an extensive rail and tram network. From 1895 until 1936 the Compagnie des Tramways Electriques de Caen (Electrical Tramway Company of Caen) operated all around the city. Caen also had several main and branch railway lines linking Caen railway station to all parts of Normandy with lines to Paris, Vire, Flers, Cabourg, Houlgate, Deauville, Saint-Lô, Bayeux and Cherbourg. Now only the electrified line of Paris-Cherbourg, Caen-Le Mans and Caen-Rennes subsist with minimal services.

Education

Miscellaneous

The Caen skyline facing the Saint-Pierre Church (Photo taken from the Château de Caen - April 2007)

Famous Caennais

Caen was the birthplace of:

Twinnings

Caen is twinned with:

Caen has been twinned with Alexandria, Virginia-USA since 1991. The sister city relationship sees delegations visiting between the two cities on a regular basis. Exchanges of students have been common. Musicians and choirs from the two cities have also made very successful exchange visits. The Toussaint/Halloween period is a time of year when a delegation from Caen will often visit Alexandria.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Her Landfranc se þe wæs abbod an Kadum com to Ængla lande: Here Lanfranc who was abbot at Caen came to England.
  2. ↑ René Lepelley, Dictionnaire étymologique des noms de communes de Normandie, P.U.C., Corlet, Caen, Condé-sur-Noireau, 1996)

External links

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