Caen Castle

Caen Castle was William's major stronghold. There were others, and he began building more in England almost as soon as he got there.

It's a really big one, 5 hectares (big) inside, built on a large rock
outcropping in the middle of what is now the city

Big enough for its own major parking garage

Today's ussie

View from the ramparts, of St. Pierre's, the tram, etc.

Yet another (unvisited) church within this square
mile

Looking toward the Men's Abbey

Another museum not visited

More of the castle expanse, including (?) the chapel that houses
the TI outpost 

With its helpful model  of the castle

And while sitting on a bench, I looked up and saw a whole row
of these, which I have now come to call Norman funnies

Parthian shot of the humongous castle

Women's Abbey In Caen: Church Of The Trinity

After lunch we trudged uphill a bit for our other big site in Caen, the Women's Abbey and its Eglise de la Trinite. The abbey is now a government center for the region of Normandy, but the 11th century church, one of the gems of Romanesque architecture, remains, undamaged and very accessible.

A gorgeous church

It's an abbey, and so very stark and simple; but stark can also
be beautiful

Elevation with 6-part ribbed vaulting

Very little ornamentation

Except for the occasional impish image

Thus

And thus

Altar and transept

Looking back to nave

Mathilde's tomb; interestingly, in the 900+ years
since her death, neither the wars of religion,
kingdom, nation, or ideology have disturbed it

Now four-part groin vaulting in the apse

The Trinity

Famous women of the Scriptures

Famous women saints

Chancel light

The two abbeys positioned in sight of one another, about a mile
apart

Eglise St-Pierre

St. Pierre's is the Main Street parish church in Caen, right across from the ducal castle. It was begun in the 13th century, Gothic, of course, but finished in the 16th century (they had some wars here in the 14th and 15th centuries), with a chancel that is Renaissance. The church was heavily damaged in the battle for Caen but faithfully rebuilt.

View from the castle; the greatest of the Norman towers

Richly decorated southside buttressing

Friendly gargoyles

Nave view

Organ does not fit its environment

Elevation

Chancel; here the vaulting gets fancy

More than life-sized St. Peter, a 3-ton hanging keystone

Chancel vaulting

Transept window

Buttressing outside

Chapel ceiling; the whole east side was like this

Exquisite carving everywhere in the Renaissance part of the church

Relatively little carving in the nave, except this one capital, showing: Alexander's
wife whipping Aristotle, Phoenix rising from the ashes, a woman taking down a lion,
and Lancelot crawling across a sword bridge to save Guinevere

Extensive damage to St. Peter's in June/July, 1944

Famous faces on the west facade

Most Bizarre Church Ever, So Far: Saint-Sauveur In Caen

We have seen some double nave churches. Usually they are in poorer areas where expansion was needed or maybe the result of zoning restrictions or church squabbles about land ownership, as between an abbey and a bishop (or a pope). But St. Sauveur has got to take the cake, and the pie and the ice cream, in this category. A 19th century historian, Eugene de Beaurepaire wrote: "Saint-Sauveur church is the most unbelievable, incoherent, extraordinary combination of buildings from the periods, including the 14th, 15th, and 16th  centuries." That, actually, is charitable. It's not simply about piling Renaissance on top of Gothic on top of Romanesque styles. This church is obviously the work of three centuries of committees.

On a side street, Rue Froide, you look up and
there is this enormous tower

Way bigger than needed for what what is perhaps
a chapel

But wait, it looks like the tower belongs to a Gothic church, but
there is maybe an Romanesque church parked next door; but
Romanesque churches don't have windows like that...

Inside, it only gets worse, a rounded (window) church on the
left, a pointy (window) church on the right; two altars (actually
more)

Looking from the pointy church over to the rounded church
(under an enormous Gothic arch we'll see in a bit)

From the rounded bow looking astern...the giant tower rises
from the arches on the left

The pointy nave, from the bow

The pointy bow

The two sterns, pointy on left, with the circular window (!);
tiny organ on the rounded side with the pointy (!) window

Rounded nave, astern, looking toward with the giant pointy arch
(52 feet) separating the two naves

Timber barrel vaulting throughout; pretty incredible

Church Ruin In Caen

Not the only one we'd see. No sign indicating what it was. The TI babe said it was "the old St. Etienne," which would be curious in that the ruin is a Gothic, clearly younger than the St. Etienne, a few blocks away. Whether it was destroyed by WWII bombardment, the Revolution, the Reformation, or a lightning strike, we'd like to know. Not on any of the maps we have. Nor is Google Maps any help.