Caen - the Abbaye aux Hommes
Caen - Abbaye aux Hommes
Caen is a port town in north-western France, on the Atlantic Ocean. When the Vikings invaded France in the 700's AD, eventually the French king let them settle down in the area around Caen (KAHN), where they got to be known as the Normans. The Normans converted from Germanic polytheism to Christianity, and soon they built churches. The first churches were made of wood, which was easier to build in, and cheaper, but around 1000 AD the Normans began to build stone churches in the Romanesque style.
William the Conqueror ordered his architects to build this church about 1050 AD in his capital at Caen (click here to find out why). It was part of an abbey dedicated to Saint Stephen - a place for Benedictine monks to live and pray.
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