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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The church Notre-Dame-du-Port de Bénouville, located in the Calvados department in Normandy, dates from the second half of the 12th century. Its name evokes its historical connection to the port of Bénuville, formerly called Portus, where the ships docked. The choir, dated from the end of the 12th century by Arcisse de Caumont, and the nave, rebuilt in the 16th century, reflect this architectural evolution. The building was under the dependence of the abbey of the Trinity of Caen, which provided the cure.

Ranked a historic monument on October 4, 1932, the church retained two visible inscriptions, one from the sixteenth century and the other from the eighteenth century. These written traces, combined with its architecture, bear witness to its religious and community importance throughout the centuries. The site, owned by the commune, remains a vestige of the maritime and religious history of the region.

Historical sources, such as the works of Arcisse de Caumont (Statistique monumentale du Calvados, 1846), underline its role in the local landscape. The official protection of the choir in 1932 allowed to preserve this heritage, while recalling its anchoring in the Norman ecclesiastical network, notably through its link with the Caennais abbey.

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