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Origin and history

The Clos des Coutures gate, dated 1625, is an iconic building located in Caen, Calvados department. It was the main entrance to a vast agricultural estate belonging to the Lady Abbey, a female monastery founded in the 11th century. This fence, surrounded by stone walls, extended between the current Avenue Georges-Clemenceau, Avenue Croix-Guérin, rue d'Hérouville and a line linking two specific points of these tracks. Its name, " Coutures", evokes its agricultural use, typical of medieval and modern monastic lands.

In the 19th century, the Cloth of Coutures underwent major transformations. In 1868, the Order of Carmel established a convent there on a part of the ground, partially destroyed during the Battle of Caen in 1944, and then rebuilt in the same way. Despite this gradual urbanization, the site has long maintained a rural character, with some scattered houses and the Lemonnier Institute, rebuilt after 1944. The portal, the only monumental vestige of the 17th century, was listed as historic monuments on June 1, 1927, bearing witness to its heritage importance.

The Napoleonic cadastre reveals the original size of the estate, bounded by roads that have become major urban axes. Place Saint-Gilles, where the gate stands, was a strategic crossroads between Caen, Colombelles and Ouistreham. The total urbanization from the closed to the 20th century gradually erases its agricultural past, but the enclosure wall remains partially visible, recalling its history related to the Abbey of the Ladies. Today, the portal and the traces of the wall offer an overview of the spatial and economic organization of Norman abbeys in modern times.

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