A remarkable religious architecture
La Manche is first and foremost a religious architectural heritage of the utmost importance. Since the early Middle Ages, builders have been at work, and Romanesque and Gothic architecture - both styles can be found in the same building - have worked wonders here. In the department, the Catholic places of worship are so numerous that it is very difficult to establish an exhaustive list, and especially to distinguish some of them at the expense of others. Nevertheless, the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Coutances , which alone sums up the changes that places of worship have undergone in the course of history, is worth mentioning: between the date of the laying of the first stone and the date of the end of the work, several centuries! It was in the 11th century that the first cathedral, a Romanesque one, was completed: less than two centuries later, like many places of worship north of the Loire, it was decided to make it a Gothic cathedral! In Coutances, large parts of the original building were kept, and the architects chose to cover it with new ornaments: effective! Today, the cathedral remains a shining testimony of religious architecture in the Manche.
Beyond that, you will find here multiple religious architectural works: the abbeys of Lessay or Hambye, or the one of Cerisy-la-Forêt to name but a few: they are numerous, fortunately protected and classified. The most famous of them all, however, remains that of Mont-Saint-Michel, located at the top of the rock, and which ends with its immense spire surmounted by the archangel: an architectural feat, beyond the majesty of the place.
From castles to mansions and manor houses
The architecture in the Manche region also includes dozens of castles and manors. The medieval seigneuries are, in most cases, at the origin of these constructions, many of which have survived the centuries: in Bricquebec, for example, the feudal castle and its keep have overlooked the town for nearly a thousand years. In Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte, a dozen kilometers further south, another castle, from the 12th century, bears witness to the feudal architecture in use at the time: around a polygonal fortified enclosure are several circular towers. Other towers, from the 12th and 14th centuries, are still visible at the castle of Gratot. As you can see, until the Revolution, architecture in La Manche, as far as important buildings are concerned, does not suffer from any exception: it is defensive or religious.
Later, from the 16th and 17th centuries on, castles became holiday homes: they are sometimes also called private mansions. Valognes still has many of them. The architecture of the latter is more focused on ornamentation and interior design: double-rotating staircases, wrought iron, water features and gardens are now among the new achievements.
Maritime architecture
Each port built is a feat against the elements, and the architecture of those in the Channel hugs the sometimes difficult shores. The port of Granville is sheltered by its rocky promontory, and the port of Cherbourg, which takes the form of an immense harbor (the second largest in the world, even today), required more than a century of architectural research and construction. Other harbors, of smaller size, are worth a look: those of Goury, Fermanville, Barfleur or Saint-Germain-des-Vaux. The only important building in the department related to the sea, the Cherbourg ferry terminal, inaugurated in 1933, transformed into the Cité de la Mer, is one of the only testimonies of the Art Deco architecture that still remains today in the Channel. At the same time, lighthouses mark out the coasts, and for many of them are real feats against the elements: in Goury, Gatteville-le-Phare, Carteret or Granville for example.
A variety of homes
Strictly speaking, there is no typical architecture of the habitat in the Manche. Here, there is only one requirement: to be dry, in a department that can be humid. Tiled roofs, sometimes stone ones, are legion. For the rest, we have long built here with the nearest materials: granite houses in the south of the Manche, extracted from the Armorican massif; rock houses elsewhere, and blue shale houses in the north of the Cotentin. Here, the habitat rarely has more than two floors. Many of the old farms, which included a house and stables in one building, have been renovated.
The ravages of war and reconstruction
If the First World War did not damage a single building, things were different in 1944. For almost two months, the Manche region lived to the rhythm of the fighting, the destruction and the bombing: Saint-Lô was in ruins, as were many small towns. In the prefectural city, although the architectural heritage that remained standing, such as the ramparts, was intelligently highlighted, some towns were unable to do the same. From the 1950s on, the priority was reconstruction: in Manche, as in Normandy, demographic pressure and the need to rehouse the destitute inhabitants as quickly as possible prevailed. Houses, administrative buildings, and various infrastructures were built according to simple architectural plans: the apparent modernity of the buildings, when they were inaugurated, quickly gave way to an impression of functional coldness. It was not until several decades later that these architectural testimonies were brought to the forefront: in La Haye-du-Puits (which became La Haye in 2016), the cemented facades are now painted in bright colors; in other cities, clever urban renovations have made it possible to find a fair balance between safeguarding the testimonies of the reconstruction and practical adaptations.
Nowadays
In terms of contemporary architecture, there is little to report. Just some newly constructed public buildings follow the current standards in this field: curved lines, wood cladding, and environmental necessities. But, strictly speaking, no building that one can say will remain a major testimony of the architecture of the beginning of the XXIst century has been built here: is it so serious?
