Built on a pluvial valley site on a limestone plateau, Caen was for a long time under the direct influence of incoming tidal waters, hence its importance as a port.

On an extremely favourable emplacement for human settlers, Caen has been inhabited for three millennia. Its spatial organization took its final shape between the 7th and 11th centuries.

The name of Caen - Catumagos - is thought to be of Gaulish origin, possibly meaning "the field of combat". It appears in written documents in around 1025, in the form Cadomus.

It was William the Conqueror, in around 1050-1060, who, in deciding to build a huge castle and two abbeys (Saint-Etienne and Trinité), was to make Caen the capital of western Normandy, endowing it with a whole set of prestigious monuments, most of which can still be seen to this day.

Le plus ancien plan de la ville,
par Fran�ois de Belle-Forest (1575)
Source : Biblioth�que Municipale

Virtual visit

For further information, click on the red marks

french version