A few words about Dieppe

Dieppe is a town in the Upper Normandy (Haute-Normandie) region in north-western France. It is a port on the English Channel and maintains regular ferry services to the British town of Newhaven.

Dieppe emerged as a fishing village in the 11th century. It was bitterly fought over during the Hundred Years' War in the 14th-15th centuries. In the 16th century, it housed France's leading school of cartography. As Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685, ordering the destruction of Huguenot churches and the closing of Protestant schools, some 3000 Huguenot citizens left Dieppe and moved abroad. Anglo-Dutch naval bombardment nearly leveled the town in 1694 but it was soon rebuilt and gained popularity as a seaside resort thanks to its attractive beach. Dieppe saw an unfortunate Allied attack known as Operation Jubilee in August 1942. Intended to seize the important port on the Channel, gather intelligence and lure the German air forces into a large planned battle, the raid proved a disaster, and more than two thirds of the landing infantry, predominantly Canadians, were killed, wounded or captured. It was again Canadian forces that liberated Dieppe in September 1944.

Luckily, three fine architectural monuments survived the 1694 bombardment: the castle and the churches of St. Jacques and St. Remy.

The Castle's early history is subject to controversies. Its oldest part, the Western Tower, dates back to the 14th century. Four other towers were built in the 15th century. In 1589, Henri IV ordered the construction of a circular enclosure to strengthen the fortress. It served as the governors' home, fortunately escaped demolition after the French Revolution, and was finally transformed into a museum.

The castle has a total of sixteen showrooms. It features a rich maritime collection reflecting the town's centuries-long seafaring traditions: prints, charts, paintings, sketches, weapons and models. A whole room is dedicated to the life of the famous naval officer Marquis Abraham Duquesne, born in Dieppe, who fought valiantly the Spanish and Mediterranean pirates.

There is a room dedicated to Georges Braque. The famous painter, one of the founders of cubism along with Pablo Picasso, had a studio at Varengeville, a small village near Dieppe. The museum obtained dozens of his prints in 1973, and has been exhibiting them since.

The great composer Camille Saint-Saens settled in Dieppe in 1888. He died in 1921, leaving to the museum in Dieppe his documents, memoirs and part of his furniture. Placed initially in the town hall, these items are now exhibited in the castle's Saint-Saens room.

The castle also houses one of the most splendid ivory collections in Europe, with more than 1000 objects from the 16th to the 20th century: a time when Dieppe was France's major center of ivory working.

A monument in the nearby park commemorates the town's relationship with Canada and the bloody events that took place at Dieppe during World War II. The inscription on the monument reads "We remember".

Dieppe became fashionable as a seaside resort in the 1820s, thanks to the Duchess of Berry. It is one of the nearest beaches to Paris, and continues to attract crowds of holidaymakers. It is a pebble beach but wooden decks are built every summer. Water sports are widely available, along with parachuting, boules and petanque playing, golf, horse riding, sea fishing and kayaking. Horse races are an attraction (Dieppe has its own hippodrome). There is a casino, and a fair choice of accommodation and restaurants.

Dieppe is famous for its scallops, a popular item in French cuisine. Interestingly, its shell is an important religious symbol: the emblem of the Apostle St. James.