Caen stone

Pierre de Caen ( Caen stone ) is the name of the degraded around Caen bright ocher and oolitic limestone. In the past, other names have been in use: Pierre d' Allemagne and Pierre de la Maladrerie.

Geology and Properties

The stone from Caen comes from deposits from the Jurassic period ( Bathonian ). He is an oolitic limestone with very fine granularity. A polish is due to its high porosity (24 to 31 vol - % ) is not possible.

He has good strength properties and is easy to machine. Indicative of this is the saying " The Caennaiser limestone can carve like wood and is as hard as granite ."

Use

The rock has shaped the construction in the city of Caen and in Normandy. Most historic buildings in the city ( castle, churches) are built from this material, which is used even today. His historically preferred applications were in sculptures and ornamental architectural elements.

It was transported across the English Channel during the reign of William the Conqueror and used for construction of important buildings in England. Occupies are applications at Westminster Abbey, the London parliament building, the Canterbury Cathedral, and Windsor Castle in Windsor. For the Cologne Cathedral were made supplies that were used there. In the U.S., the Saint Patrick's Cathedral was built in New York with this stone.

The underground quarries that yielded large ingots in the past, are closed today. Mining sites are for the communities Caen, Venoix, Bretteville -sur -Odon and Fleury- sur -Orne (then Allemagne ) detectable. The name of the village of Allemagne was replaced in 1917 by the name of Fleury- sur- Orne, because Fleury- devant -Douaumont was one of nine in the First World War " Ruined villages " have been ( at Verdun ), which had been totally destroyed. " Allemagne " actually means " Germany ", but back then it was not the case. The place name Allemagne referring to Alemannic soldiers who had settled as soldiers of the Roman army at the time of the late Roman Empire.