Sights in Bayeux
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Cathédrale Notre Dame
Most of Bayeux’ spectacular Norman Gothic cathedral dates from the 13th century, though the crypt (accessible from the north side of the choir), the arches of the nave and the lower portions of the entrance towers are 11th-century Romanesque. The central tower was added in the 15th century; the copper dome dates from the 1860s. First prize for tackiness has got to go to ‘Litanies de la Sainte Vierge’, a 17th-century retable in the first chapel on the left as you enter the cathedral.
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Bayeux Tapestry
Undoubtedly the world’s most celebrated embroidery, the misnamed Bayeux Tapestry (it’s actually wool thread embroidered onto linen cloth) vividly recounts the story of the Norman conquest of England in 1066. Divided into 58 scenes briefly captioned in almost-readable Latin, the main narrative – told from an unashamedly Norman perspective – fills up the centre of the canvas, while religious allegories and depictions of daily life in the 11th century unfold along the borders. The final showdown at the Battle of Hastings is depicted in truly graphic fashion, complete with severed limbs and decapitated heads (along the bottom of scene 52). Halley’s Comet, which blazed across …
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Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux
Undoubtedly the world's most celebrated piece of embroidery, the Bayeux Tapestry is housed in the Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux . Upstairs there's a short historical film and a full-size reconstruction of the tapestry, but you'll be better off skipping both and heading downstairs to see the real thing. An audioguide is included in the admission price.
The tapestry recounts the story of the Norman conquest of England in 58 remarkable scenes, briefly captioned in Latin, and all told from an unashamedly Norman perspective. Scholars believe that the 70m-long tapestry was commissioned by Bishop Odo of Bayeux, William's half-brother, to commemorate the opening of Bayeux cat…
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Bayeux War Cemetery
This peaceful cemetery, a few hundred metres west of the Musée Mémorial, is the largest of the 18 Commonwealth military cemeteries in Normandy. It contains 4848 graves of soldiers from the UK and 10 other countries, including, rather surprisingly, Germany. Across the road is a memorial for 1807 Commonwealth soldiers whose remains were never found; the Latin inscription across the top reads: ‘We, whom William once conquered, have now set free the conqueror’s native land’.
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Mémorial des Reporters
Just beyond the cemetery and easily missed (the entrance is not on bd Fabien Ware itself), a landscaped promenade lists the names of nearly 2000 journalists killed in the line of duty around the world since 1944. A project of Reporters Without Borders (www.rsf.org) and the City of Bayeux, it was inaugurated in 2006.
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Musée Mémorial de la Bataille de Normandie
Using well-chosen photos (some in original colour), personal accounts, dioramas and wartime objects, this first-rate museumoffers an excellent introduction to WWII in Normandy. Signs are in French and English. A new 25-minute film on the Battle of Normandy is screened in English three to five times a day.
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Conservatoire de la Dentelle
This workshop is dedicated to the preservation of traditional Norman lacemaking, and you can watch some of France’s most celebrated lacemakers create intricate designs using dozens of bobbins and hundreds of pins. At its height, the local lace industry employed 5000 lacemakers.
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Musée Baron Gérard
The Musée Baron Gérard specialises in local porcelain, lace and 15th- to 19th-century paintings (Italian, Flemish and impressionist). Admission is free if you buy a ticket to the tapestry museum.
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