Chateau de Caen

Visit the Castle built around 1060 by William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy then King of England. The ducal castle in Caen is now home to the Musée de Normandie (Normandy Museum) and the Musée des Beaux Arts (Museum of Fine Arts). In the town centre, discover over 5 hectares of perfectly restored and maintained fortifications. The locals love to come here for a pleasant stroll. The ramparts offer a splendid viewpoint over the town. Chateau currently under renovation. Construction may impair visit and we may substitute for a walking tour in the same area.

Abbaye aux Dames

Visit the Lady's Abbey, founded around the year 1060 by Matilda of Flanders, wife of William the Conqueror The Abbaye-aux-Dames was home to a community of Benedictine nuns until the French Revolution. After this painful period, the conventual buildings became, in succession, a military garrison, a poorhouse, a hospital in 1823 and a hospice in 1908. The buildings were restored in 1984 in order to house the Regional Council of Lower Normandy. The cloisters gallery presents a beautiful example of fan-shaped vaults. The abbey church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity on 18 June 1066, remains a masterpiece of Norman Romanesque architecture, despite some 19th-century renovations. Queen Matilda rests in the choir under a slab of black Tournai marble. The capitals of the apse offer a variety of more or less fantastical animals drawn from the bestiary.