Notre-Dame Cathedral, Bayeux | Travelsnapz

Cathedral of Our Lady of Bayeux

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The Notre-Dame of Bayeux

Originally the home of the Bayeux Tapestry, the Notre-Dame Cathedral of Bayeux (or Cathedral of Our Lady of Bayeux) is an impressive Roman Catholic church.

It’s right in the centre of the town so you can’t miss it. It was our first port of call when we came to Bayeux to see the famous tapestry.

The tapestry is some 90 metres long and it was strung around the church on special occasions. Now it’s housed in a special temperature-controlled museum.

It was in this church that William, Duke of Normandy and King of England may have forced Harold Godwinson to take the oath, the breaking of which led to the Norman conquest of England.

This scene on the Bayeux Tapestry is thought to have taken place at Bagia (Bayeux, probably in Bayeux Cathedral), and shows Harold touching two altars with the enthroned Duke looking on and is central to the Norman Conquest of England.

What you see now, of course, is not what King William saw – the church has had a number of renovations since those days. But maybe we can still imagine William riding up to the front door, leaping down from his horse, and striding down the long aisle to kneel at the altar.

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