Bayeux is mostly visited for the Bayeux Tapestry of Queen Mathilde:
13 bis r. de Nesmond
phone: 02 31 51 25 30
An exceptional historic embroidered tapestry on a 200 foot band of linen. 58 moving, epic and amusing scenes show stories such as the rivalry between Harold and William, an audience with William, Mont Saint-Michel, the death of Edward the Confessor, the appearance of Halley's Comet, the journey across the Channel and the march to Hastings, the battle and the death of Harold. This marvellous comic strip (mythically attributed to Queen Mathilde but probably made in England by a Saxon workshop) is, apart from its artistic value, an unequalled historical and ethnographical document.
It is hanging in the William the Conqueror Centre, in the former great seminary and, before reaching the tapestry itself, you walk through a very useful exhibition giving the historical context of the age - the Viking invasions, military and historical facts, England's political and social organisation after the defeat by William, the why and wherefore of this marvellous work of art which was first and foremost at the time an instrument of propaganda.
Take to time to wander around the streets of Bayeux, as it does have other attractions than the Tapestry.
The Notre-Dame Cathedralhas a harmonious chevet, a door showing the story of Thomas Becket, a façade with two Romanesque towers. Inside, interesting paintings in the right transept, a choir stall that, with its ambulatory and crown of chapels, is a fine example of Norman Gothic style. The crypt and capitulary are also Gothic and date back to the late 12th C. Note the vaults resting on consoles decorated with grotesque characters and monsters.
On Rue St-Martin stands the Maison du Cadran (named after the sundial on the façade) and on the corner with Rue des Cuisiniers, there is a beautiful half-timbered house with corbelled construction from the 14th C, one of the oldest in Normandy.
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