The smallness of the
windows throughout the building subdues the light within, and thus gives St
Trinite a somewhat different character to St Etienne. The capitals of the
piers of the arcade are carved with strange-looking monkeys and other
designs, and there are chevron mouldings conspicuous in the nave. The tomb
of Queen Mathilda is in the choir. Like that of her husband it has been
disturbed more than once, so that the marble slab on top is all that
remains of the original.
Opposite the Place Reine Mathilde stands the desecrated church of St
Gilles, one of the numerous beautiful buildings in Caen now in partial ruin
and occupied as warehouses, wine-vaults or workshops. They are all worth
looking for, and if possible examining inside as well as out, for they
include some beautiful flamboyant structures and others of earlier date,
such as St Nicholas, illustrated here, which in part dates from Norman
times. St Etienne le Vieux, quite close to the Abbaye aux Hommes, is a
beautiful building rich in elaborate carving and rows of gargoyles. It was
built in the early years of the fifteenth century in place of one which had
fallen into ruin when Henry V.
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