Bayeux

Museum of the Battle of Normandy, in Bayeux, northwest France. The invasion of Normandy in June 1944, although successful, cost the Allies 2,500 lives.

Town in the département of Calvados, northern France, on the River Aure, 27 km/17 mi northwest of Caen; population (1999) 20,700. The town has an agricultural market, and industries include the production of pottery, lace, and processed foods. Its museum houses the 11th-century Bayeux Tapestry. There is a 13th-century Gothic cathedral.

Bayeux was the first town in Western Europe to be liberated by the Allies in World War II, 8 June 1944. It has a war cemetery where 6,000 combatants lie buried.

History The town is on the site of the Roman settlement Augustodurum, and has a bishopric dating from the 4th century. It was taken by the Norwegian Viking king, Rollo, in 890, and was pillaged by Henry I of England in 1106. Bayeux was under siege many times during the Hundred Years' War, and during the religious wars of the 16th century.