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Bayeux
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Bayeux is a commune in the Calvados department in Normandy in northwestern France.
Bayeux is the home of the Bayeux Tapestry, one of the oldest surviving complete tapestries in the world.
ux is a sub-prefecture of Calvados. It is the seat of the arrondissement of Bayeux and of the canton of Bayeux.
ux is located seven kilometers from the coast of La Mancha (Landing beaches) and 30 km north-west of Caen.
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Encyclopedia
Bayeux is a commune in the Calvados department in Normandy in northwestern France.
Bayeux is the home of the Bayeux Tapestry, one of the oldest surviving complete tapestries in the world.
Administration
Bayeux is a sub-prefecture of Calvados. It is the seat of the arrondissement of Bayeux and of the canton of Bayeux.
Location
Bayeux is located seven kilometers from the coast of La Mancha (Landing beaches) and 30 km north-west of Caen. The city, located between 32 and 67 meters, with an average of 46 meters, is bisected by the Aure. Bayeux is located on the main road (RN13) and rail Paris-Caen-Cherbourg. The city is the capital of the Bessin, which extends north-west of Calvados.
History
The area around Bayeux is called the Bessin which was a province of France until the French Revolution. The name of the town and of its region come from the Celtic tribe of Bajocasses who inhabited the area.
During the Second World War Bayeux was one of the first French towns to be liberated during the Battle of Normandy, and on 16 June 1944 General Charles de Gaulle made his first important speech on liberated French soil in Bayeux. The buildings in Bayeux were virtually untouched during the Battle of Normandy as the German forces defending the town were pulled away to help defend Caen.
The Bayeux War Cemetery and Memorial is the largest British World War II cemetery in France. There are 4,648 graves, including 3,935 British and 466 Germans. Most were killed in the Invasion of Normandy.
Natural features
The River Aure flows through Bayeux and affords scenic views from a number of locations. The Aure river has relatively high turbidity and its brownish water is moderate in velocity due to the slight gradient of the watercourse, although the narrow channel in locations like Bayeux centre engenders higher surface velocities; pH levels have been measured at 8.35 in the centre of Bayeux near the Bayeux Tapestry Museum and electrical conductivity of the waters have tested at 37 micro-siemens per centimetre. Turbidity has been measured at 13 centimetres by the Secchi disc method. At this reference location of Bayeux centre, summer flows are typically in the range of 50 cubic feet per second.
Sights
Bayeux is a major tourist attraction, best known to British and French visitors for the Bayeux tapestry, made to commemorate the Norman conquest of England in 1066. The tapestry is believed to have been woven in England. It is displayed in a museum in the town centre. The large Norman-Romanesque Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Bayeux, consecrated in 1077, was the original home of the tapestry.
The Jardin botanique de Bayeux is a botanical garden dating from 1864.
Persons connected with Bayeux
- Exupère Saint, Bishop of Bayeux;
* Vigor of Bayeux, bishop of Bayeux from 513 to 537;
* Bayeux Béranger, Count of Bayeux, who died in 896;
* Poppa of Bayeux, daughter of Berengar of Bayeux, wife of Rollo. ;
* Alain Chartier (1392-1430), politician and poet;
* Pierre Du Bosc (1623-1692), preacher;
* Rupalley Joachim (1718-1780) painter;
* Rupalley Gabriel Narcisse (1745-1798), painter;
* Robert Lefèvre (1755-1830), painter;
* François de Caumont (1768-1848), designer and painter;
* François Gérard (Rome, 1770 - Paris, 1837), painter and member of Bayeux;
* Miss George (1787-1867), actress and mistress of Napoleon;
* Arcisse de Caumont (1801-1873), archaeologist;
* Alfred Lair of Beauvais (1820-1869), organist and composer;
* The Cieux Léon (1821-1873), violinist;
* Lenepveu Georges (1857-1923), inventor and master glassmaker;
* Jean Grémillon (1901-1959), director;
* Roger Bésus (1915-1994), sculptor and writer;
* Jean-Léonce Dupont (1955), senator and former mayor;
* Eric Navet (1959), jockey;
* Lionel Lemonchois (1960), navigator;
* Franck Dumas (1968), footballer and coach Stage Malherbe de Caen;
* Muriel Barbery (1969), writer;
* Damien Letulle (1973), archer;
* Frédéric Born (1975), footballer.
Personalities
Bayeux was the birthplace of:
Demographics
- The inhabitants of Bayeux are called Bayeusains or Bajocasses .
See also
- Communes of the Calvados department
External links
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