The Caen Memorial marks a record year in terms of attendance

Year of the 80^e anniversary of the D-Day landings, 2024 is shaping up to be an excellent year for the Caen Memorial. The establishment, which employs 80 employees (120 in season), has in fact broken attendance records with more than 475,000 visitors (760,000 with the Arromanches circular cinema, managed by the Memorial): i.e. +7 % compared to 2023.
2024 therefore enters the top 3 attendance records in the history of the Memorial, after 1994 (619,000 visitors) and 2004 (556,000 visitors), the anniversary years of the 50 and 60 years of D-DAY. “Paradoxically, it’s not the 80^e anniversary which pulled us up because the “anniversary of the Landing” effects begin to fade with time. It was especially the temporary exhibition “The Dawn of the American Century 1919-1944” which proved to be the driving force behind attendance,” notes general director Kléber Arhoul.
With a 38% increase in consumption at the Mémorial bistro restaurant and a 39% increase at the establishment’s souvenir bookstore, the site recorded an overall increase in its turnover (undisclosed) of more than 22% ( €11.3 million in 2023). “We have thus paid an incentive of more than one million euros to the city of Caen,” adds the general director.

An economic development tool

To make the heart of the museum beat and optimize its attendance, Kléber Arhoul relies on the sharing of knowledge and interest: the 7^e Art, the arrival of speakers and historians, renowned musicians, prestigious guests but also major economic groups.7

“The economic world is one of the Memorial’s development priorities, we have received numerous French companies which export to the United States but also American companies which export to France. The Memorial is not only a tool for cultural and diplomatic development , but also economic development”, assures the general director.

The Dynamic Export Club, whose vocation is to support Normandy companies wishing to develop internationally, notably made its economic return to the Caen Memorial last September, in the presence of the United States Ambassador to France.

Highlights in 2025

2025 will be an equally important year for the Memorial, with several celebrations planned. Four major themes will be addressed: the commemoration and discovery of the Nazi extermination-concentration camps and the Shoah, the end of the war in Europe and the question of the Colonial Empires, the commemoration of the surrender of Japan, the opening of the trials major war criminals. For this upcoming program, the Memorial will invest in the complete overhaul of the room dedicated to the Shoah, which will increase from 230 m² to 400 m².