The famous liberty tree of Bayeux.
3 museums in one town are a lot, but in Bayeux they are all worth it! The Baron Gerard is probably the one most people skip, but don't do it! We raced through in less than 2 hours and could have easily spent the whole afternoon.
Neat job setting it up chronologically and mixing the history and art together in each time.
Prehistoric fossils!
Early axe heads!
Roman times road markers!
Weaving! I had never really understood this before, but great picture showing the use of the artefacts.
This was their city council room for hundreds of years until very recent times. Smart idea to repurpose it into a museum.
Coat of arms for the town.
Medieval apothecary jars
Excellent installation
In the modern era, Bayeux was known for their lace and porcelain so the museum has a few rooms dedicated to each.
The lace is amazing. Again hard to photograph in dim light
So bought a postcard.
Turns out I had no idea how handmade lace is made. Turns out to be super complicated! You have to keep track of 100 different threads. The exhibit did a great job showcasing not just the finished work, but the materials and people needed to make the lace.
Accessories to go with the lace making.
Porcelain!
The chemists (yeah!) in Bayeux figured out how to fire the clay to make impermeable porcelain
You can make cute address labels
But more importantly, chemistry vessels. Once chemists figured out that you can mix almost anything in porcelain without absorbing the mixing bowl material, more chemistry started happening. And for awhile Bayeux was super important to the advancement of chemistry.
Between the museum and the cathedral is their famous tree. It is a London Plane tree and was planted in 1797 to celebrate the liberty gained from the French Revolution. It is still strong and beautiful as a tree but some nights the city plays a light show on the cathedral and this tree. I only saw pictures afterward but would have gone if I'd known.
Cathedral and porcelain.
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