Wednesday, July 6, 2016 (continued)
After lunch, we were taken on a walking tour of Rouen.
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| Ad for the new Joan of Arc Museum (KSS) |
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| Tourist office in 1510 Renaissance Bureau des Finances |
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| Tourist bureau building detail |
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Cathédrale de Rouen (1030-1880, the cathedral
suffered through many fires, lightning strikes,
Calvinist attacks and WWII bombs),
finished in Gothic style |
Several artists, including significantly Claude Monet, created many paintings of this cathedral.
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Tour de Buerre/Butter Tower
(1509-1530) (KSS) |
I will perpetuate the myth that the Butter Tower was built with money paid by parishioners for dispensation from not eating butter during Lent. The French cannot cook without their butter!
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| The left Portaile de St Jean/St John Portal (12C) |
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The central portal (13C) with a restored
Tree of Jesse (depicting the ancestors of Christ) |
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| The right Portaile de St Etienne/St Stephen Portal (13C) |
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| 12 C nave with 13C vault (KSS) |
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| Offering votives |
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| The dark blue stained glass is the oldest (KSS) |
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Stained glass from medieval to
Early Renaissance periods (KSS) |
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| Columns made of limestone with flint fragments (KSS) |
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| Missing stained glass (KSS) |
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| St Catharine's Chapel altar |
The story is that when Rouen was bombarded in April 1944, the south aisle was destroyed, but the central columns did not fall due to the support arches of St Catharine's Chapel. The chapel column was actually connected to one of the support columns of the lantern tower, which if damaged, would have caused a collapse of the cathedral.
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Looking up at the lantern tower, built to allow additional light into
the cathedral; an 1876 cast-iron lantern tower was built to
replace the 1544 wooden spire that burned in 1822 |
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Escalier de la Librairie/Booksellers' Stairway
(lower 15C, upper 18C, designed by Guillaume Pontis),
gave clergy access to a 2nd story library from the cathedral itself |
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| N transept rose window (16C) |
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| Chapel of Joan of Arc statue |
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Tomb of Rollo, the Viking who became the first ruler of Normandy;
with a replica head since the original was destroyed in the WWII bombing |
Rollo was a Viking who led raids in northern France. The Frankish King Charles III made a pact with Rollo in 911, asking him to stop the raids in return for the lands to be known as Normandy
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Tomb of Richard the Lion-hearted's heart; his body and entrails
are buried elsewhere, but "his heart belonged to Normandy" |
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Chapelle de la Vierge/Chapel of the Virgin,
1643 altarpiece with Adoring Shepherds
painting by Philippe de Champaigne |
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The only signed stained-glass window in Rouen Cathedral,
unfortunately you cannot see the lettering in the white ribbon
in the lower right quadrant stating in Latin:
"Clement, glassworker at Chartres, made me" |
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| Tomb of Henry the Young, the second son of King Henry II of England |
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Tomb of William I Longsword, son of Rollo
and 2nd ruler of Normandy |
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| View towards N transept (KSS) |
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Portaile des Libraires/Booksellers Portal (1280-1478),
named for a book market located in the courtyard |
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| Relief of fantasy creature (KSS) |
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| Relief of fantasy creature |
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| Gargoyle holding man's head |
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Gargoyle holding woman's head;
Watch out kids! This could be your head! |
We left the cathedral to continue into town.
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| #74 Rue St-Germain house (15C) |
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| #64 Rue St-Germain, Dame Cakes |
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| Dame Cakes window |
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| Rue St-Germain |
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| Painter sign for Faïence Saint Romain shop |
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| Potter sign for Faïence shop |
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Faïence Saint Romain window;
faïence porcelain is tin-glazed pottery |
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| More faïence from Fayencerie Augy |
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| Bottles of Calvados, an apple cider brandy, a local specialty |
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Palais de l'Archevêché/Archbishop's Palace
(15C, altered 18C, bombed in WWII) remaining
window with the cathedral behind it;
the location where Joan of Arc was tried in 1431
and post-humously rehabilitated in 1456 |
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| Kent in Rue des Chanoines alley |
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| Rue St-Nicolas cobblestone repair (KSS) |
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| Rue St-Nicolas |
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