Location Caen Denomination Roman Catholic Heritage designation 1903 Year built 1067 | Country France Functional status Church Style Neo-Byzantine Phone +33 2 31 27 14 14 | |
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Address Place Saint-Etienne le Vieux, 14000 Caen, France Similar Église Saint‑Étienne, Abbey of Saint‑Étienne - Caen, Church of Saint‑Pierre - Caen, Abbey of Sainte‑Trinité - Caen, Château de Caen | ||
11 caen glise saint tienne le vieux et abbaye aux hommes avi
The Church of Saint-Étienne-le-Vieux is a former church, today in part ruined, located in the old city center of Caen. It must not be confused with the Church of Saint-Étienne de Caen located nearby.
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This church is the object of a classification under the Historic Monuments of France since August 22, 1903.
History
The church was probably founded during the 10th century when the city of Caen began its first significant growth. It is mentioned for the first time in the charters granted by William the Conqueror along with the two abbeys under the name of sanctus Stephanus Vetus in 1067. The qualifier "old" allows to distinguish it from the Abbey of Saint-Étienne, Caen built around the 11th century.
Exposed along the ramparts of the city, she was very damaged during the Hundred Years' War, particularly during the time the headquarters were based in Caen in 1417. It is reconstructed during and after the English occupation. During this time, the tower becomes octagonal.
The parish was part of the doyenné de Caen in the former diocese of Bayeux.
Decommissioned in 1793, it was reinstated for worship in 1802, the former abbey church embodying the role of parish church. Little maintained, the Church soon threatened to ruin. Classified in 1840, it is closed to the public in 1844 because of its decay. Threatened with demolition, it is saved in extremis thanks to the action of Arcisse de Caumont and Antoine Charma. The Society of antique shops of Normandy envisaged to use the Church to install its collections, but the museum of antique shops of Normandy was finally housed in the former college of Mont located nearby. The city stores the architectural fragments in the museum in 1926.
In 1944, it is hit by a shell aimed a column of German tanks which was parked in the vicinity. The Nave was in large part destroyed. Since this date, the Church has not been the object of restoration work. Its state of conservation is therefore not opened to the public.