I thought I would share some interesting information I learned this week. I'm taking a French Civilization course at the University here and we just finished a unit on WWII and the reconstruction of France.
Some highlights pertaining to my hood...
1. About 70% of Caen was destroyed during the WWII bombings. It was a very important port town at the time and this is why I'm told it was a target. Regardez:
2. What is most striking in the picture above is that you can see that there are a few buildings still standing and those just happen to be the most important and historic cathedrals and castles in town. A few spires were knocked down, but overall, many historical elements in Caen were not bombed. This leads to me point three...
3. The architects in charge of rebuilding Caen decided to go with the architecture that would make Caen look much like it did before the bombings. Although some things obviously were updated, Caen largely holds its historical feel because anything that was destroyed was rebuilt in an identical fashion. This marks a stark difference between the other town that was hit equally as hard during the WWII bombings, Le Havre. They went with more modern architecture and now the two towns look and feel completely different.
4. Due to the layout of beach landings, the Canadians were the soldiers that came and fought in Caen. Here is a neat picture that my teacher showed us from they got into the town...pretty incredible! Well, I hope you enjoyed your history lesson for the day! :) Tout à l'heure!
