Caen

Caen grew into Normandy’s ducal capital in the 11th c., when William the Conqueror raised Caen Castle and founded the Abbey of Saint-Étienne and the Abbey of St Mary as monuments of piety and power. Built in pale Caen stone, the city’s Romanesque and Gothic silhouettes still shape everyday life, even after the devastation of 1944, when much of the centre was destroyed and rebuilt. Remembered for medieval ambition and wartime endurance, Caen carries a sober civic identity formed by learning, memory, and stone.