Saint-Sepulcre collegiate church

This is yet another decommissioned religious building in Caen. It was founded in the 13th century by Guillaume Acarin, a priest and adviser to King Philip Augustus. By the way, I’d like to take this opportunity to give you a little background information, which you may never need, but Philippe Auguste was the first sovereign to bear the title of King of France, in 1180. He was the first to centralise power, to turn Paris into a real capital and to establish a national identity. Before him, monarchs bore the title of kings of the Franks, representative of a feudal context in which the king was simply the head of several lordships. Well, that’s the end of the history lesson, so let’s get back to our priest. During his pilgrimage to Jerusalem, he expressed the wish to build a church in Caen that would follow the plans of the Holy Sepulchre, the burial place of the Christ. A collegiate church was therefore built on a small hill opposite Caen castle, on top of a 12th-century chapel dedicated to Saint-Anne. The outcome was much appreciated, and a relic of the Cross of Christ was even preserved in a chapel built in the same manner as the tomb of Jesus. This relic was the subject of numerous religious ceremonies, but has since disappeared. In 1562, the church was sacked by Protestants and then destroyed by the Governor of Normandy, to prevent it from becoming a strategic retreat for the Huguenots, who would have been perfectly positioned opposite the castle. Deprived of their church, the canons moved into the modest Saint-Anne chapel, which was eventually enlarged and refurbished. However, during the French Revolution, the collegiate church was dissolved and the site lent its walls to the artillery. In 1920, the army left, and ten years later the church was listed as a historic monument. In the 1960s, it was sold to the town by the département. Nowadays, the church is occasionally opened for events. Check out if there is any activity going on here today, before heading off to the Vaugeux district.