Rouen (Normandy)

Normandy is a region in the north of France, that borders the English Channel.
With its 500 km of coastline, coves and cliffs and sandy beaches. A true paradise for nature lovers, Normandy boasts four Regional Natural Parks.
Once the center of a powerful medieval empire that controlled a significant area of continental Europe, and most of England and Wales, Normandy has an incredibly rich heritage with nearly 3000 buildings classified or listed Historical Monuments.

A true source of inspiration for many artists, painters, writers and poets, Normandy has attracted many painters in love with the region which has welcomed several great artists of the nineteenth century, in the forefront of which are the Impressionists. Claude Monet, the most prominent figure of the Impressionist movement, even settled in the Eure department, in Giverny where he lived for 43 years. Besides paintings, Normandy is widely represented through novels. Local writers Gustave Flaubert, Guy de Maupassant and Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly, Maurice Leblanc depict a Normandy of sandy or pebble beaches, casinos and racetracks, spreading the image of a green Normandy, meadows and apple trees.

Land of gastronomy
Reputed for the quality of its local produce with cheeses such as Livarot, Camembert de Normandie, Pont-l’Évêque, Neufchâtel, but also for its scallops, oysters, cider, calvados, Bénédictine liqueur…. Normandy offers an exciting and high-quality food variety, always pleasurable to the taste buds of gastronomes.

Rouen, capital of the region
Rouen, also known as the "City of a hundred steeples", will not fail to surprise you. With its beautiful half-timbered houses, its cobbled streets and its numerous Gothic churches, it will invite you to stroll through its multiple pedestrian streets.

Its cathedral, a real gem, is the 3rd highest in the world, recognizable by its asymmetry and its Romanesque curves. The construction of the building was undertaken in the middle of the 12th century, on the site of the Romanesque cathedral of which the crypt has been preserved. About 100 years later, it was completed, but it was modified over the following centuries. During the 1890s, the famous painter Claude Monet painted his famous series of 30 paintings depicting the cathedral at different times of the day and seasons.

Rouen was the scene of the martyrdom of Joan of Arc, who was condemned and burned alive in 1431, on the Place du Vieux Marché, where the church of Saint Joan of Arc has stood since 1979. Its architect, Louis Arretche, wanted to revive the tradition of many old Norman churches by giving the building the shape of an overturned boat: to do this, he rediscovered the principles of traditional naval construction and the wooden structure remains visible above the nave. The exterior, resolutely modern, evokes the sea with a roof of slate or copper scales.

Formerly the Exchequer of Normandy, seat of the Parliament of Normandy, the Palais de Justice of Rouen, built in the 15th and 16th centuries, is a masterpiece of Gothic architecture. Seriously damaged by the Allied bombings of 19 April and 16 August 1944, the Palais de Justice de Rouen has now been restored to its former splendour. In the courtyard of the Parliament, a Jewish monument was discovered in 1976. This discovery proves that Rouen was one of the most important intellectual centers in Europe at the time of William the Conqueror.
The Gros-Horloge, another emblematic monument of the city of Rouen, is decorated with gilding that reveals its architectural and historical importance.
A true museum city, Rouen is nevertheless a modern and dynamic city.