l'Hôtel du Croissant, off Rue Saint-Jean, Bayeux, Normandy, France

            A discreet archway between shops on one of Bayeux's main streets leads to this small mediæval lane.

The building on the left and far end of the alley is the Hôtel du Croissant, possibly begun as early as the 14th Century and certainly extended in subsequent centuries for a "wealthy bourgeois or aristocratic family", culminating in the addition of the imposing stair tower with a cantilevered turret. Registered as a historic monument in 1975, the municipally-owned (and neglected?) building was apparently sold in 2013 for conversion into six apartments.

On the right is a restaurant occupying another 15th Century building.

Bayeux seems to have been founded in the 1st Century BCE as Augustodurum, a Gallo-Roman settlement on a crossroads beside the River Aure.  It rapidly became important to the defence of the Roman Empire's coast, with a legion stationed here, and by the end of the 3rd Century CE the town was surrounded by a wall (which remained until the 18th Century).
Nonetheless, Bayeux was largely destroyed in 9th Century Viking raids; by the 10th Century the town was the personal fiefdom of Hagrold, a pagan Dane who defended it against the Franks.
Following the Norman conquest of England, the town passed to Duke William's half-brother Odo, Earl of Kent, who completed the cathedral, dedicated in 1077. However, William's capital in Normandy was Caen, 24 km to the south-east, so Bayeux declined in importance.
The town was repeatedly attacked during the wars between France and England, but somewhat prospered after 1450.

Thirteen kilometres south of Arromanches-les-Bains (Overlord's 'Gold' beach), Bayeux was the first major town secured by the Allies during Operation Overlord, on 7 June,1944.  The buildings of Bayeux survived virtually intact, as German defences focused on Caen, but casualties of D-Day and the subsequent invasion were brought to Bayeux; the town has the largest Second World War Commonwealth cemetery in France.

Otherwise, the town is possibly most famous as home of the 69m-long Bayeux Tapestry justifying/depicting the 1066 conquest of England, originally located in the Norman cathedral and now within a dedicated museum. Indeed, the tapestry is named after its home rather than its place of origin; it's thought to have been produced in England.

Taken in: France / Normandy / Arrondissement de Bayeux / Bayeux (show map)

Taken on: November 16, 2014

Tags:

hôtel du croissant

rue

bayeux

calvados

normandie

france

mediaeval

lane

normandy

alley

tower

dusk « less

Sets appears in: • Normandy

Groups appears in: • Normandy, Normandie • The Blue Hour (please read rules) more » • ♥ NORMANDIE - NORMANDY ♥ • Normandie - the best pictures • Bayeux France • Dusk / Blue hour « less

Camera: Canon EOS 60D, f/4.5, 1/25 sec, 35mm, ISO 500 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 60D
Lens:	EF-S15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
Aperture:	f/4.5
Exposure Time:	0.04 sec (1/25)
Focal Length:	35mm
ISO:	500
Exposure Bias:	-4/3 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CC 2019 (Windows)
Show full info

Stats: 693 views

close tools panel

Badge creator

Use Flickriver Badge Creator to create a badge linking to your photos, your group or any other Flickriver view.

You can place your badge on your Flickr profile, Blog or Website.

Add to your iGoogle or Netvibes page

Flickriver widget for iGoogle or Netvibes can display almost any Flickriver view - most interesting today, by user, by group, by tag etc. Once added to your personalized homepage, just edit widget settings to select your desired view.

Clickr on one of the buttons below to install:

Embed on your Web site

To embed this view, Copy and Paste the following HTML code:

Black background (preview):

White background (preview):

Firefox and Chrome addons

Adds a 'Flickriver' button to your browser. While viewing any Flickr photos page, click on this button to open the same view on Flickriver.

Install in Firefox
Install in Chrome

Search plugin

Add 'Search on Flickriver' to your browser's search box. Works with Firefox and Internet Explorer. Install search plugin

"View on Flickriver" Greasemonkey script

A Greasemonkey script that adds Flickriver links to various Flickr photo pages - user photos, favorites, pools etc, allowing to quickly open the corresponding Flickriver view.

Also, allows quickly viewing any Flickr photo on black background in large size.

Install "View on Flickriver" script

Bookmarklet

While viewing any Flickr photos page, click on the bookmarklet to open the same view on Flickriver.

To install: drag and drop the following link to your Bookmarks toolbar.
IE users - add the link to your Favorites under the Links folder