Abbaye aux Hommes

Founded by William of Normandy, future conqueror of England, in penance for his marriage to Matilda of Flanders, the Abbaye aux Hommes forms with the Abbaye aux Dames one of the great Romanesque monastic ensembles of Normandy. Its façade, framed by two tall towers with Gothic spires added in the thirteenth century, has become one of the emblems of Caen. Inside the abbey church of Saint-Étienne, the sobriety of the Romanesque volumes contrasts with the elegance of the Gothic apse; William the Conqueror was buried there in 1087, even though his remains have since been scattered through the wars of religion and the Revolution. The vast adjoining conventual buildings, rebuilt in the eighteenth century by Benedictine monks, now house Caen town hall.

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