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D-Day Museum with tours, enthusiastically retracing the fantastic history of the artificial port of Arromanches.
The new museum has just opened its doors! The building, an immense 44-metre-long glass-covered edifice, takes the place of the old one. Erected on the historic site of Mulberry B harbour, the remains of which still emerge a few miles from the shore, the D-Day Museum was the first centre to commemorate June 6, 1944, and the Battle of Normandy. Educational and suitable for all (audioguide available in 10 languages and for all audiences, educational trail for 6-12 year olds...), the tour takes you through seven different areas to learn more about the Battle of Normandy, and more specifically about the construction and operation of the Mulberry B artificial harbour, so essential for supplying Allied troops in the aftermath of D-Day. A section on Arromanches during the Occupation and the daily life of the people of Arromanches also sheds light on this period. The historical model built for the permanent exhibition in 1954 remains the soul of the museum, accompanied by virtual reality projections and 3D mapping. For those wishing to take home a souvenir or book, the museum store is open to all. Books, models, posters, videos, pens or key-rings, the choice is vast. So you never forget, whatever you do and wherever you are.
A rooftop terrace will soon be built, offering a unique view of the remains of the Mulberry B, and allowing immediate perspective on the elements seen in the museum just before.
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Opening time and information on LANDING MUSEUM
Quality Tourism. Closed in January. Adults: €12.90. Vacation vouchers. Children welcome. Guided tour. Animations. Animals not allowed.
Owner's Message
After 2 years of work, the new museum was unveiled on April 1, 2023
Arromanches is a town steeped in history, where the sweetness of life, emotion and the vestiges of the past are mixed together. Nestled between two cliffs on the Bessin coast in Normandy, Arromanches-les-Bains is a seaside resort where life is good. Located on the D-Day beaches, it was on this beach that, during the Battle of Normandy, immediately after D-Day, the Allies established the "Mulberry B" port, a temporary artificial harbor to allow the landing of heavy equipment, without waiting for the conquest of deep water ports such as those of Le Havre or Cherbourg. The British built huge floating reinforced concrete caissons, called "Phoenix", which, assembled side by side, formed a dike of floating pontoons that followed the tides and were connected to the land by real floating causeways. Today, some of the "Phoenix" caissons can still be seen in the open sea, remnants of a technical feat that allowed the landing of 2.5 million men, 500,000 vehicles, and 4 million tons of equipment. Fascinating when you think about the context and the means of the time!
It is on the esplanade next to the artificial harbor that the D-Day Museum was built in the aftermath of the war, at the request of the D-Day Committee. As the first museum built to commemorate the Normandy Landing, it was inaugurated on June 5, 1954 by René Coty, President of the Republic at the time. A real event here!
And since then, the museum commemorates the Battle of Normandy and more particularly the construction of the artificial harbor "Mulberry B", of which one can see the remains of the large windows of the building.
Until its closure, the former Arromanches museum will have welcomed more than 20 million visitors! Designed for 30,000 visitors a year, it has been receiving 300,000 in recent times, hence the need to modernize it. Better conservation of the collections was also a major problem in the old building.
The new museum retains most of the elements present in the old one, including its famous model of the artificial harbor, built for the permanent exhibition in 1954! It explains the construction, routing and operation of the "Mulberry B", and is now completed with 3D mapping to visualize the port in operation, in its entirety.
The museum is divided into seven areas: after picking up an audioguide (available in ten languages as well as in LSF, audio-description, FALC and with a magnetic loop for the blind or visually impaired), count on a 1h30 visit.
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Members' reviews on LANDING MUSEUM
The ratings and reviews below reflect the subjective opinions of members and not the opinion of The Little Witty.
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Le plus quand on peut, visiter quand il n'y a pas trop de monde pour bien voir la maquette en même temps qu'on écoute les explications.
J'ai acquis beaucoup de connaissances sur les difficultés du débarquement mais aussi sur le port artificiel grâce aux maquettes qui expliquent très bien ce qu'il s'est passé !