Normandy France home of Mont saint Michel, D Day invasion and Bayeux Tapestry
Rouen
Places to visit
A city with vast array of things to see and do;
- • Cathedral Notre-Dame- Beautiful 12th and 13th Century building, 151 metre Cast iron lantern tower, two ornate stone towers, 14th century rose window, an amazing crypt with intricately carved tombs and effigies.
- • Musee Des Antiquities- Housed in 17th century convent, collections of Egyptian, Greek, Gallo-Roman and medieval artefacts. Home to the largest mosaic in France, the 4th Century Mosiac of Lillibonne.
- • Musee Des Beaux-Arts- A collection of fine art encompassing five centuries from Russian icons to modern sculpture. Paintings by Monet, Renoir, Caravagio, David, Velasquez, Fragonard and Gericault displayed in a very fine building.
- • Musee les Secq Des Tournelles- Wrought iron of every style and type, from ornate locks to 18th Century chateau banisters, housed in 15th century Eglise St-Laurent, itself a marvel of flying buttresses and finely carved stones.
- • Place du Vieux-Marche- A huge cross 20metres high marks the place where Joan of Arc was burned to death on 30th May, 1431.
- • Musee De La Ceramique- Museum dedicated to the history of Rouen’s faience ware, a type of tin-glazed blue and white earthenware ceramic.
- • Musee Flaubert et D’Histoire De La Medicine- The birthplace in 1821 AD of the great writer Gustave Flaubert, who’s father was a surgeon in the medical school. Exhibits include various medical information and displays from the 19Th Century.
- • Palais De Justice- A Gothic delight with statuettes, tracery, pinnacles and leering gargoyles, built when Normandy was granted its own parliament in 1514 AD. Remains of an 11th Century synagogue and Jewish monument uncovered in the palace courtyard.
- • Eglise St-Maclou- Built between 1437-1517 AD but badly damaged during WWII, has been painstakingly restored. Fine carvings, renaissance fountain, and a 16th Century organ case.
- • Aitre St-Maclou- Constructed in 1526 AD, and used a charnel house and cemetery during the era of the plague. Ground floor used as a cloister, the upper levels to view bones of plague victims. Macabre carvings on outer beams over tranquil courtyard garden.
- • Tour Jeanne D’Arc- Tall round donjon tower, built by Philippe Auguste in 1205 AD. Joan D’Arc brought to here to show her torture instruments to break her spirit. Houses documents Frances patron saints trial.
- • Gros Horloge- A one handed clock on its 16th Century arch. Bell cast in 1260 AD rings out at 9pm daily with the “conquerors curfew”.
- • Eglise De St-Ouen- Originally a huge abbey church, built in 1318. Some 14th Century stained glass.
- • Rue Eau De Robec- Described by a character in a Flaubert novel as” a degraded little Venice” , water trickles below walkways leading to fine timbered houses and antique shops and cafes.
Places to visit.
Accommodation Near Here
Gites du Valasse
Gite Valle de Seine
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