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Origin and history

The collegiate church of the Holy Sepulchre of Caen was founded in the 13th century by the priest Guillaume Acarin, adviser to Kings Philip Augustus and Louis VIII. Inspired by a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, he erected this church on the model of the Holy Sepulchre, with a chapel reproducing the tomb of Christ. The building housed prestigious relics, like a fragment of the True Cross, attracting annual processions, especially on Palm Sunday and Good Friday. The initial chapter consisted of sixteen canons, reduced later to ten, led by Acarin himself.

The church, located outside the walls of Caen, was looted in 1346 when the city was taken. To protect themselves, the canons obtained permission to build a fortified enclosure with ditches and balists, mentioned in 1372. These defences, poorly maintained, disappeared before the sixteenth century. In 1417, the English seized the building and carried the relic of the True Cross, before restoring it according to tradition, after misfortunes interpreted as divine punishment. The Huguenots partially destroyed the church in 1562, and the Duke of Bouillon, governor of Normandy, had the remains razed in 1563 under strategic pretext.

After its destruction, the canons settled in the adjacent Sainte-Anne chapel. In the 18th century, architect Jean Boisard enlarged the building by adding an octagonal bell tower and two chapels, typical of French classicism. The Revolution dissolved the college in 1791, and the church was then used as an artillery depot and then as a departmental archives. Ranked a historic monument in 1934, it housed the collections of the Musée des Antiquaires de Normandie after 1963. Damaged during the Battle of Caen in 1944, it was restored and today hosts cultural events, including contemporary dance residences.

Today's architecture mixes medieval vestiges, such as a 12th century door decorated with crenellated frets, with 18th century elements such as the octagonal dome bell tower. The nave, 53 metres long, retains a characteristic countercurve. The site, with a 674 m2 ground grip, dominates the Vaugueux district, a witness to eight centuries of religious and military history.

In the 20th century, the church barely escaped destruction in 1911 thanks to local associations, which saved its bell tower considered "scenic". Occupied by the departmental archives until 1962, it was transferred to the city of Caen and reopened as a cultural space. Since 2019, it has been home to the Collective Chorégraphique, organizer of the Morpho festival, perpetuating its vocation as a gathering place, far from its religious origins.

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