Bayeux

The main attraction of the city is the cathedral , the construction of which began in the XI century and was completed in 1497. The city also has museums - the Bayeux Carpet Museum, the Baron Gérard Museum of History and Art and the Museum of the Norman Operation of 1944 .

The former seminary now houses the William the Conqueror Center , which displays the famous “ Bayeux carpet ” ( French Tapisserie de Bayeux ), a monument of early medieval art, which is an embroidered canvas 50 cm high and 70.3 m long, depicting the most important events from the history of the conquest England by William of Norman . For a long time it was believed that this painting was embroidered by craftsmen commissioned by the wife of William the Conqueror, Queen Matilda , then the hypothesis that the customer of the carpet was Odo, Bishop Bayeux , brother of William and one of his closest associates received more recognition. The carpet is a strip of rough linen fabric, on which 58 scenes are embroidered, one after another in a chronological sequence of events (the agreement of William and Harold , the death of Edward the Confessor , the coronation of Harold, the gathering of the Norman army, sailing on ships, landing in England, a clash with troops Harold at Hastings, etc.). On the upper and lower edges of the carpet are scenes from Aesop 's instructive fables. Each of the scenes is provided with a brief commentary in Latin. Images meticulously reproduce historical costumes, weapons, tools, ships, among interesting details - Halley's comet , which approached the Earth in 1066.

In ancient times, Bayeux was the center of the Gali tribe of Bayokasses , and in the time of the Romans it was called Augustodurum "Augustodurum" and, as the remains of the aqueduct, gymnasium and other antiquities show, reached a certain degree of prosperity. In the IV century , a bishopric was founded in the city.

In the Middle Ages, Bayeux was the main city in the Bessen region. Already in the III century, this region belonged to the so-called “ Saxon coast ” ( lat. Litus Saxonicum ), then to the territory of Lesser Saxony ( lat. Otlingua Saxonia , modern department of Calvados ), where Charlemagne evicted the conquered Saxons . The descendants of these immigrants for a long time were called "Bessen Saxons."

In the 9th century , another one, also of Germanic origin, joined the Saxon element. Norman Rollon (since 912 the Christian Duke of Normandy) took Bayeux from the Earl of Berengar , who was killed during the storming of the city by the Vikings , and whose beautiful daughter, Popa, became the winner's wife. Thus Bayeux became the main center of Norman power in Lower Normandy and retained Scandinavian customs longer than other cities.

During the war with England, Bayeux twice passed into the hands of the British (in 1346 and 1417 ), but in 1450 he was forever captured by the troops of Jean de Dunois . In the sixteenth century, Bayeux suffered severely from the Gutenot wars , and under Louis XIII he witnessed a bloody reprisal against the outraged "tramps" ("Va-nu-pieds"). During the revolution, Bayeux, along with his many clergy, supported the royalists .

During World War II, it became the first French city liberated by Allied forces : it was occupied by units of the British army on June 7, 1944, the day after the Norman operation began .

On the territory of the city there are three small industrial zones, which are mainly located in the food industry. Actively developed tourism.

Employment structure:

• agriculture - 0.2%
• industry - 9.2%
• construction - 3.3%
• trade, transport and services - 48.4%
• state and municipal services - 38.9%

The unemployment rate (2014) is 17.2% (France as a whole - 13.5%, Calvados department - 13.0%).
The average annual income per person, euro (2014) - 18 708 (France as a whole - 20 150, Calvados department - 20 046).

Population dynamics, people

Mayor of Bayeux has been occupied by Patrick Gomont since 2001. In the 2014 municipal elections, the right-wing list headed by him won in the 1st round, receiving 63.28% of the vote.

•   Lubbecke , Germany
•   Dorchester , UK
•   Viborg , Denmark
•   Eindhoven , Netherlands
•   Chojnice , Poland

• Aquilinus from Evreux (620-690 / 695) - Bishop of Evreux, Saint.
• William I (900 / 910-1042) - Duke of Normandy.
• Alain Chartier (c. 1392 - c. 1430) - poet and writer.
• Guillaume Chartier (c. 1392-1472) - Bishop of Paris.
• Mademoiselle Georges (1787-1867) - actress, lover of Napoleon .
• Arciss de Comon (1801–1873) - antiquarian and archaeologist, founder of the French Archaeological Society.
• Eugene Ventra (1807-1875) - religious figure.
• Jean Gremyon (1902-1959) - film director.
• Gustav Le Brisois Denuarterr (1817–1892) - writer.

• List of counties in France

• Bayeux, city // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.

• Bayeux City Official Website (French )
• National Institute of Statistics (Fr. )
• Results of the 2014 municipal elections (French)