The Cherbourg Transatlantic Maritime Station and the Le Redoutable submarine: living and lasting emblems of Normandy’s maritime heritage

The alliance of the Transatlantic Maritime Station, architectural jewel Art Deco, with the submarine Le Redoutable, remarkable industrial heritage, tells the original story of an unlikely marriage between a beautiful miraculous and a steel carcass.

Designed by Cherbourgeois architect René Levavasseur, the Cherbourg Transatlantic Maritime Station, a flagship of French Art Deco, was inaugurated in 1933. Built to accommodate the largest steamers of the time, the building quickly nicknamed "Notre Dame des Queens" became the largest Transatlantic Maritime Station in the world and the largest construction in France after the Palace of Versailles.
At the end of the 1970s, with the rise of air traffic, the Cherbourg Transatlantic Maritime Station fell into oblivion. Listed in the additional inventory of historical monuments in 1989, it now houses the Cité de la Mer and the submarine Le Redoutable. The first French nuclear missile launcher, a flagship of the post-war deterrence policy, was built at the Arsenal in Cherbourg and launched in 1967 in the presence of General de Gaulle.
In 2022, La Cité de la Mer, whose creators have taken up the incredible challenge of marrying these two giants of Norman maritime heritage, celebrates its twentieth anniversary. 2022, is also the year in which the Transatlantic Maritime Station of Cherbourg and the submarine Le Redoutable represent Normandy for the election of the Preferred Monument of the French.
The results of the votes of the famous France 3 show presented by Stéphane Bern will be unveiled as part of the 39th European Heritage Days.
To celebrate these two emblems of Norman maritime heritage, and to thank the public for their support during the votes for the election of the Preferred Monument of the French, The Cité de la Mer offers an exceptional single rate to access all its exhibitions and discover this lively and vibrant heritage.
Costumed walks on the theme of the great transatlantic era and the sub-marinade will be offered during these two days, in the heart of the Art Deco spaces of the former Transatlantic Maritime Station of Cherbourg and around the submarine Le Redoutable.