Calais is a beautifully located city on the English Channel, and it is one of the northernmost cities in France. From Calais there is a view of the Straits of Dover, where the English coast can be seen a good 30 kilometers to the north-west. And it is as a port city that Calais has developed, where already in the Middle Ages the city was the center of transport and trade with England, which also had dominion over the strategically important city. This was the case from 1347, when Edward III conquered the city. Calais became formally English with the Treaty of Brétigny in 1360.

Edward III wanted to execute all the town’s inhabitants for their defense against England but ended up settling for six high-ranking citizens who sacrificed themselves to save the town’s other inhabitants. However, their lives were spared by the queen’s intervention. Under the English crown, Calais developed with a large production of wool and as a gateway to England for many important goods. The English era lasted until 1558, when France regained the city. After centuries, Calais was in focus again during the Second World War, when the city was subjected to heavy bombardments that left Calais in ruins. It started in May 1940, when the city was a bombing target for attacking German troops.

The center of Calais is located on an island close to the city’s harbor and the English Channel. Place d’Armes is the central square, and like the rest of the city, it is characterized by modern buildings that were built after the Second World War. At the square you can see the concert hall Le Halle and the Tour du Guet, which is a lookout tower originally built in 1214. The 39-meter-high tower was built as part of the city’s fortifications at the time. It was destroyed by an earthquake in 1580 and used as a lighthouse until 1848, after which it was used as a central lookout tower. If you walk a little to the northeast from the square, you come to the Phare de Calais, which is a 53-meter-high lighthouse that replaced the Tour du Guet in 1848. You can visit the lighthouse, from which there is a wonderful view.

There are several interesting sights in Calais, where you can go to Église Notre-Dame, also to be found in the old town. It is a Catholic church, which was built in English Gothic style from the 12th century to the 14th century. The church tower got an interesting role in 1787, when it was used as a reference point in the distance measurement between the observatories in Paris and Greenwich. The church has been destroyed repeatedly, most recently during the Second World War, but each time Notre-Dame has been rebuilt. Close by, you can take a walk in Parc Richelieu and visit the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Calais’ leading art museum. At the museum you can enjoy art from the 16th century to the present day, and there is a room dedicated to Auguste Rodin and his work The Citizens of Calais/Les Bourgeois de Calais.

Les Bourgeois de Calais is a sculpture that the city of Calais commissioned from Auguste Rodin in 1884. The work was completed in 1889, and it shows the citizens who sacrificed themselves to the English king for the sake of the city in 1347. You can see Rodin’s work in the square in front of Calais’ town hall building, which is also the city’s landmark. The town hall stands south of the central island in the city, and it was built in the years 1912-1925. The town hall’s 72-meter-high bell tower was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 2005 as part of a collection of bell towers in Belgium and France. If you continue south from the town hall, you come to the city’s beautiful theater, the Grand Théâtre de Calais, built 1903-1905.

Today, Calais is still an important hub for traffic between France and England, because there are ferries to England from the city’s port, and because the tunnel under the English Channel starts from the area immediately southwest of the city. The many ferries to England can be seen in the city’s harbor or from Calais’ wide city beach, which is within walking distance of the centre. In the same area, you can take a walk along some of the canals in Calais and see some of the city’s old fortifications. North of the old town is Fort Risban, which already functioned as part of Calais’ defenses during the English attack and siege in 1346. And you can see the old citadel from the 16th century west of the old town.