Bayeux

Région	Basse-Normandie (Lower Normandy)
Département	Calvados
Arrondissement	6 cantons 126 communes 6, 022 habitants
Canton	16 communes 20,744 habitants
Habitants	Bayeusains or Bajocasses
Population (1999)	15,403 habitants
Postal code	14400
INSEE code	14047
Agglomeration (2004)	Communauté of communes 28,366 habitants
Area	7 km²

Bayeux is a small town in Normandy, northern France, just a few kilometres from the coast and between the city of Caen to the east and the base of the Cotentin Peninsula to the west. The arrondissement includes Ryes. The area around Bayeux is called the Bessin which was a province of France until the French Revolution. The name of the town and of its region come from the Celtic tribe of Bajocasses who inhabited the area.

The town is a major tourist attraction, most well known for the Bayeux tapestry, made to commemorate the Norman conquest of England in 1066, which is displayed in a museum in the town centre.

During the Second World War Bayeux was one of the first French towns to be liberated during the Battle of Normandy, and on June 16, 1946 General Charles de Gaulle made his first important speech on liberated French soil in Bayeux.

Births

• Odo of Bayeux