On a perfect fall day (that even managed to be reminiscent of New England at one point), this is what we saw:
Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Rouen
The cathedral has the widest façade of any cathedral in France, partially due to the fact that the towers are placed on each side of the nave, and don't rise up from the top of it.
The nave
Stained glass reflecting on the walls
One of the rose windows
The ornate stained glass is missing, due in part to gradual wear over time and also in part to the heavy bombing of Rouen during the Second World War.
An elaborately carved staircase leads to the library
Close-up from the incredibly detailed façade
Detail next to the main door
The detail and grandeur of the cathedral is striking when slowly backing away to reveal more and more of its enormity. It's not hard to imagine how such an imposing feature would have completely ruled all aspects of life during the Middle Ages.
The part to the right hasn't been cleaned yet. Centuries of pollution leave their mark on the stone. When Monet painted the cathedral dozens of times in the mid-1800s, the entire cathedral was black with grime.
La Tour du Beurre
The Butter Tower supposedly gets its name from the fact that during the Middle Ages, when the cathedral was being constructed, wealthy residents of Rouen paid "favors" that allowed them to continue to eat butter during the period of Lent. The money provided for the construction of the tower. The less interesting explanation for the name is that it comes from the yellow color of the stone...
La Tour-Lanterne
The Lantern Tower is a regional peculiarity of Normandy. All Norman churches have a spire that rises up from the transection of the nave with the transept. The remarkable height of this spire (the photo unfortunately doesn't do it justice) makes the cathedral of Rouen the tallest cathedral in France. At the time the spire was finished, the cathedral was also the tallest building in the world.
Le Gros Horloge
The Big Clock, not so creatively named, is just that: a big clock.
Église Sainte-Jeanne d'Arc
The church was built in the 1970s and has a very peculiar appearance. It looks like either a ship - perhaps a Viking ship - or a fish, and from the inside you feel as though you're inside the belly of a whale.
The church was built on the spot where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in 1431. The pointy buildings in the background are connected to the church and could be either a ridge of scales on the back of a sea monster or waves lapping against the hull of a ship.
L'Aître Saint-Maclou
This enclosed courtyard was used as an over-flow graveyard for plague victims (as recently as the early 1700s!) and is decorated by morbid carvings of sculls, cross-bones, other bones, shovels, pick-axes and other grave-diggers' tools.
The Norman architecture closely resembles that of Alsatian architecture with the half-timbered buildings. While the majority of the structures in Alsace are strictly black and white, the buildings in Rouen are very colorful.
Colored window panes
Possibly my favorite half-timbered house, with cock-eyed windows to match the pitch of the stairs.
There are also lots of really small, impossibly narrow buildings tucked between others. The dormer on this one was particularly cute. I would have claimed that apartment for me if the monstrous cathedral wasn't just in front of it, blocking all hope for sunlight.
No comments:
Post a Comment