The Mémorial de Caen is a museum and

war memorial A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war. Symbolism Historical usage It has ...

Caen Caen (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune inland from the northwestern coast of France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Calvados (department), Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inha ...

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

commemorating

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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

. The museum was officially opened on June 6, 1988 (the 44th anniversary of

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

) by the French President

François Mitterrand François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was a French politician and statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest holder of that position in the history of France. As a former First ...

. 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 The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

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 The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...

Gallery

File:Mémorial de Caen Hall.jpg, Hall File:Mémorial de Caen foyer October 2011.JPG, Foyer File:Caen memorial jardinamericain.jpg, American Garden File:Memorial Avion.jpg,

Hawker Typhoon The Hawker Typhoon was a British single-seat fighter-bomber, produced by Hawker Aircraft. It was intended to be a medium-high altitude interceptor aircraft, interceptor, as a replacement for the Hawker Hurricane, but several design problems we ...

ground-attack aircraft at Mémorial File:Memorial maquette porteavion usa.JPG, Model of U.S. aircraft carrier File:Mémorial uniforme soviétique WWII.JPG, Soviet army uniform (1939–1945) with

PPSh-41 The PPSh-41 () is a selective-fire, open-bolt, blowback submachine gun that fires the 7.62×25mm Tokarev round. It was designed by Georgy Shpagin of the Soviet Union to be a cheaper and simplified alternative to the PPD-40. The PPSh-41 saw ...

submachine gun File:Memorial V1.jpg, Model of German V1 flying bomb

References

* This article is a summary translation of the French Wikipedia Article

External links

Official website

The Memorial de Caen at Google Cultural Institute
{{DEFAULTSORT:Memorial De Caen Buildings and structures in Caen World War II museums in France Peace museums World War II memorials in France Museums in Calvados (department) Military history of Caen