Misplaced Pages

Mémorial de Caen

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (July 2012) Click for important translation instructions.
  • View a machine-translated version of the French article.
  • Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Misplaced Pages.
  • Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
  • You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing French Misplaced Pages article at ]; see its history for attribution.
  • You may also add the template {{Translated|fr|Mémorial de Caen}} to the talk page.
  • For more guidance, see Misplaced Pages:Translation.
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Mémorial de Caen" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (July 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
(Learn how and when to remove this message)
Peace museum, war memorial in BP , Caen Cedex
Le Mémorial de Caen
Mémorial de Caen is located in CaenMémorial de CaenLocation within Caen
Established1989
LocationEsplanade Eisenhower, BP 55026, 14050 Caen Cedex 4
Coordinates49°11′51″N 0°23′03″W / 49.197438°N 0.384135°W / 49.197438; -0.384135
Typepeace museum, war memorial
Visitors400,000 (2007)
Public transit accessno 2 bus (terminus)
WebsiteCaen Memorial website.

The Mémorial de Caen is a museum and war memorial in Caen, Normandy, France commemorating World War II and the Battle for Caen. More generally, the museum is dedicated to the history of the twentieth century, mainly focused on the fragility of peace. Its intention is "pay a tribute to the martyred city of the liberation" but also to tell "what was the terrible story of the 20th century in a spirit of reconciliation".

Site

The building and grounds are located in the northern suburbs of the city of Caen on the site of an old blockhouse. The architect was Jacques Millet and the original curator was Yves Degraine. On entrance of the building is written: "The pain broke me, the fraternity relieved me, of my wound sprang a river of freedom" (sentence by Paul Dorey, local poet who speaks in the name of Normandy). In front of the entrance, we can see the flags of the main nations involved in the Battle of Normandy, and "Non-violence", a sculpture by Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd.

The memorial is dedicated to the history of violence and intensive, outstanding conflicts in the 20th Century and particularly World War II. The museum was officially opened on June 6, 1988 (the 44th anniversary of D-Day) by the French President François Mitterrand. The original building deals primarily with World War II, looking at the causes and course of the conflict.

The museum was subsequently extended:

  • In 1991 a gallery dedicated to the Nobel Peace Prize was added
  • Three memorial gardens, The American Garden, The British Garden and the Canadian Garden were dedicated to the three main allied nations involved in liberating France
  • An extension focusing on the Cold War and the search for Peace was opened by President Jacques Chirac in 2002. It comprises neutralized warheads, planes and a fragment of the Berlin Wall.

Gallery

  • Hall Hall
  • Foyer Foyer
  • American Garden American Garden
  • Hawker Typhoon ground-attack aircraft at Mémorial Hawker Typhoon ground-attack aircraft at Mémorial
  • Model of U.S. aircraft carrier Model of U.S. aircraft carrier
  • Soviet army uniform (1939–1945) with PPSh-41 submachine gun Soviet army uniform (1939–1945) with PPSh-41 submachine gun
  • Model of German V1 flying bomb Model of German V1 flying bomb

References

  1. "Mémorial de Caen : musée sur le débarquement en Normandie". Site officiel du tourisme dans le Calvados (in French). Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  2. "À propos du Mémorial". www.memorial-caen.fr (in French). Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  • This article is a summary translation of the French Misplaced Pages Article

External links

Categories: