Ancien château des Ducs · Photo: Benjism89 · CC BY-SA 3.019 historic monuments, 7 classé
For every 10,000 residents Argentan counts 14 monuments, more per resident than 91% of compared French towns, against 2.5 in the median compared French town. The oldest monuments in Argentan date from the 10th century. We have photos of 16 of Argentan’s monuments.
median compared town 2.5
Argentan in 16 photos
Nearly every classé monument, photographed. Tap a photo to step through them full screen.
Église Saint-GermainClassé
Colonne dite des Trois CroixClassé
Maison dite de Henri IVClassé
Église Saint-MartinClassé
Ancienne habitation de l'Abbesse des BénédictinesClassé+11See all photosPhotos from Wikimedia Commons, copied to our own server, each credited to its photographer with its license; names open the monument’s page.
Where Argentan’s monuments stand
Every monument with a point on the ministry’s list; the larger, darker dots are classé.
Tap a dot to open the monument’s page: its record, photo and the monuments around it.
Classé is the higher protection: any work on the building needs the State’s permission. Work on an inscrit building must be declared to the State in advance. Around both, building work in sight of the monument (usually within 500 m) needs the agreement of the architecte des Bâtiments de France.
Points as the ministry gives them: a monument spread over several plots has one point. 2 monuments have no point on the map.
7 classé monuments in Argentan
Classé is France’s highest protection for a building, held by about a third of the monuments on the list. 2 of the 7 are protected in part only (a façade, a roof, a room). Each card opens the monument’s page.
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Classé12 inscrit monuments in Argentan
Inscrit is the second level of protection: the building is worth keeping, and any work on it must be declared.
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InscritMost of Argentan’s monuments are houses and homes
Each monument under the main domain Mérimée gives it.
Houses & homes: 11 of 19 monuments (58%). 5 are religious buildings, 2 of them classé.
Mérimée files each monument under one main domain: a château with its chapel counts once.
How old Argentan’s monuments are
Each monument once, by the oldest part the list dates.
7 of 16 dated monuments have parts from before 1500. The oldest dated: Ancien château des Ducs (Middle Ages). 3 monuments have no date on the list.
6 of Argentan’s monuments were protected in 1948
Monuments by the year they were first protected.
First protected, in 1862: Église Saint-Martin. 6 were protected in 1948 alone. 1 has been added since 2011.
35 people born in Argentan before 1900
The 20 best known on the line, and eight of them below.
Everyone born in Argentan Birthplaces from Wikidata, checked against Wikipedia.
Argentan has the 4th most monuments of 41 towns its size
Compared French towns of 13,100 to 13,900 residents, by historic monuments.
The median town of these has 2. 9 of the 41 have none.
Historic monuments in the towns around Argentan
| Town | Residents | Monuments | Classé | Protected area |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argentan | 13,527 | 19 | 7 | — |
| Gouffern en Auge | 3,636 | 14 | 8 | — |
| Sées | 4,168 | 10 | 6 | — |
| Falaise Calvados | 7,680 | 24 | 10 | — |
| Vimoutiers | 2,978 | 1 | 0 | — |
Argentan in brief
Few towns are as rich in historic monuments as Argentan: per resident it has more than 91% of compared French towns. In all there are 19 historic monuments, 7 of them classé. Ancien château des Ducs sits at the heart of it all, with 5 of the town’s classé monuments within 400 m. Only 3 of the 41 towns nearest its size have more historic monuments.
Of the whole list, 58% are houses and homes. Of the 16 with a date, 9 come from the 16th to 18th centuries. The oldest is Ancien château des Ducs, from the 10th century. Beyond that, 6% of its homes were built before 1919, close to the 7.4% in the median compared French town.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Monuments historiques. France protects buildings at two levels. Classé, the higher (about a third of the list), means any work needs the State’s permission; inscrit means work must be declared to the State in advance. The Culture ministry’s Mérimée base lists every protected building, and this page counts them.
- Partly protected. Many entries protect part of a building only (its façades and roofs, a staircase, a painted room). Each counts as one monument, like a fully protected one.
- Where a monument is counted. In the commune named on its protection, moved to today’s commune where communes have since merged. A monument listed for several communes counts in each.
- Sites patrimoniaux remarquables. Since 2016 France’s protected historic areas (the former secteurs sauvegardés, ZPPAUP and AVAP) share one name. Inside one, building work follows the area’s plan and needs the agreement of the architecte des Bâtiments de France.
- What isn’t here. Protected objects (furniture, organs, paintings), old buildings with no protection, UNESCO World Heritage listings and labels such as “Plus Beaux Villages de France” aren’t on this list, so this page doesn’t count them.
- No History Grade yet. Everything on this page is described, not graded: France’s History Grade isn’t built yet.
Questions about the history of Argentan
How many historic monuments are there in Argentan?
The Culture ministry lists 19 historic monuments in Argentan: 7 classé and 12 inscrit.
Which monuments in Argentan are classé?
7, among them Ancien château des Ducs, Tour Marguerite, Église Saint-Martin, Ancienne habitation de l'Abbesse des Bénédictines, Colonne dite des Trois Croix and Église Saint-Germain.
How old are the monuments of Argentan?
The oldest parts of its listed monuments date from the 10th century.
When were monuments in Argentan first protected?
The first in 1862, the latest in 2025.
How old are the homes in Argentan?
6% of its main homes were built before 1919 (median compared French town: 7.4%).
France has no History Grade yet: this page describes, it doesn’t grade.
Sources: Ministère de la Culture, Mérimée base on POP (immeubles protégés au titre des monuments historiques), October 2026 · Ministère de la Culture, sites patrimoniaux remarquables, October 2026 · INSEE, census 2023 (main homes by build period) · Wikidata and Wikipedia (people born here) · Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata (photos of the monuments, each with its own credit and license) · IGN Admin Express (boundaries) · Medians and percentiles: TownRatings, over compared French towns, updated November 4, 2026. Under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab).
Contains public sector information under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab): INSEE, DGFiP, the Interior Ministry’s statistics service (SSMSI), the Ministry of Education (DEPP), the Health Ministry’s statistics service (DREES) and the Housing Ministry (Carte des loyers). Commune boundaries: IGN Admin Express.