Collections of the Musée de Normandie The bequest of the Musée de la Société des Antiquaires de Normandie (Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Normandy) Pre-Romanesque sculptures and architectural fragments

Caen, church of St Pierre

The parish of Saint-Pierre, formerly Darnetal, is located at the heart of the town and was the largest in the city. The "Sancti-Petri atrium" is mentioned for the first time in 1083 in the cartulary of the Abbey of the Sainte-Trinité in Caen, but the Saxon origin of the name Darnetal would lead one to suppose a older origins for the place. During the restorations carried out at the base of the pillars of the tower at the end of the 19^th century, workers discovered the vestiges of a 12^th century construction under the 13^th century masonry, which in turn covered the remains of an initial building of the pre-Romanesque period from which the elements presented here originate.

 

Caen, church of St Pierre : lapidary fragments

Facing stone 8th - 9th century

Frieze 8th - 9th century