Rouen () is the historical capital city of
Normandy, in northern
France on the River
Seine, and currently the capital of the
Haute-Normandie (Upper Normandy)
region. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of
medieval Europe, Rouen was the seat of the
Exchequer of
Normandy in the Middle Ages. It was one of the capitals of the
Anglo-Norman dynasties, which ruled both England and large parts of modern France from the eleventh century to the 15th century. It was in Rouen where
Joan of Arc was burnt in 1431. People from Rouen are called
Rouennais.
The population of the metropolitan area (in French:
aire urbaine) at the 1999 census was 518,316 inhabitants and 532,559 inhabitants at the 2007 estimate. The city proper has an estimated population of 110,276 in 2007.
Administration
Rouen is the capital of the
Haute-Normandie (Upper Normandy)
région, as well as a
commune and the
préfecture (capital) of the
Seine-Maritime département.
Rouen and 44 suburban communes of the metropolitan area form the
Agglomeration community of Rouen, with 405,392 inhabitants in it at the 2006 census. In descending order of population, the largest of these
suburbs are
Sotteville-lès-Rouen,
Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray,
Le Grand-Quevilly,
Le Petit-Quevilly, and
Mont-Saint-Aignan, each with a population exceeding 20,000 inhabitants.
History
Rouen was founded by the
Gaulish tribe of the
Veliocasses, who controlled a large area in the lower
Seine valley. They called it Ratumacos; the
Romans called it
Rotomagus. Roman Rotomagus was the second city of
Gallia Lugdunensis after
Lugdunum (
Lyon) itself. Under the reorganization of
Diocletian, Rouen was the chief city of the divided province
Gallia Lugdunensis II and reached the apogee of its Roman development, with an amphitheatre and
thermae of which foundations remain. In the fifth century it became the seat of a bishopric, though the names of early bishops are purely legendary and later a capital of
Merovingian Neustria.
From their first incursion in the lower valley of the Seine in 841, the
Normans overran Rouen; from 912 Rouen was the capital of the
Duchy of Normandy and residence of the
dukes until
William the Conqueror established his castle at
Caen.
In 1150 Rouen received its founding charter, permitting self-government. During the twelfth century Rouen was the site of a
yeshiva; at that time, about 6,000 Jews lived in the town, comprising about 20% of the population, in addition to a large number of Jews scattered about another 100 communities in
Normandy. The well-preserved remains of the yeshiva were discovered in the 1970s under the Rouen Law Courts, and the community has begun a project to restore them.
thumb|left|City Hall and Church of St. Ouen, Rouen.
In 1200 a fire destroyed a part of the old cathedral and the present Gothic mainworks
cathedral of Rouen were begun. On June 24, 1204
Philip II Augustus of France entered Rouen and definitively annexed Normandy to the
French Kingdom. He demolished the Norman castle and replaced it with his own, the Château Bouvreuil, built on the site of the Gallo-Roman amphitheatre. A textile industry developed, based on wool imported from England, for which the cities of Flanders and Brabant were constantly competitors, and finding its market in the
Champagne fairs. Rouen depended for its prosperity also on the river traffic of the Seine, of which it enjoyed a monopoly that reached as far upstream as
Paris. Wine and wheat were exported to England, as tin and wool received in return. In the fourteenth century urban strife threatened the city: in 1291 the mayor was assassinated and noble residences in the city were pillaged.
Philip IV reimposed order and suppressed the city's charter and the lucrative monopoly on river traffic; but he was quite willing for the Rouennais to repurchase their old liberties in 1294. In 1306 he decided to expel the Jewish community of Rouen, then numbering some five or six thousands. In 1389 another urban revolt of the underclass occurred, the
Harelle; it was part of widespread rebellion in France that year and was suppressed with the withdrawal of Rouen's charter and river-traffic privileges once more.
During the
Hundred Years' War, on January 19, 1419, Rouen surrendered to
Henry V of England, who annexed
Normandy once again to the
Plantagenet domains. But Rouen did not go quietly:
Alain Blanchard hung English prisoners from the walls, for which he was summarily executed;
Canon and
Vicar General of Rouen Robert de Livet became a hero for excommunicating the English king, resulting in de Livet's imprisonment for five years in England.
Joan of Arc was
burned at the stake in Rouen on May 30, 1431 in this city, where most inhabitants supported the duke of Burgundy, Joan of Arc's king enemy. The king of France
Charles VII recaptured the town in 1449.
The city was heavily damaged during
World War II on
D-day and its famed cathedral was almost destroyed by Allied bombs. During the
German occupation, the
German Navy had its headquarters located in a chateau on the
École Supérieure de Commerce de Rouen campus.
Main sights
thumb|200px|right|Rouen Cathedral.
Rouen is known for its
Notre Dame cathedral, with its
Tour de Beurre (
butter tower). The cathedral was the subject of a series of paintings by
Claude Monet, some of which are exhibited in the
Musée d'Orsay in
Paris.
The
Gros Horloge is an
astronomical clock (dating back to the16th century) though the movement is considerably older (1389). It is located in the
Gros Horloge street.
Other famous structures include the
Gothic Church of Saint Maclou (15th century); the
Tour Jeanne d'Arc, where Joan of Arc was brought in 1431 to be threatened with torture (contrary to popular belief, she was not imprisoned there); the
Church of Saint Ouen (12th–15th century); the
Palais de Justice, which was once the seat of the
Parlement (French court of law) of Normandy and the Museum of Fine Arts and Ceramics which contains a splendid collection of
faïence and
porcelain for which Rouen was renowned during the 16th to 18th centuries.
Rouen is noted for its surviving
half-timbered buildings.
There are many museums in Rouen:
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen, an art museum with pictures of well-known painters such as
Claude Monet and
Géricault,
Musée maritime fluvial et portuaire, a museum on the history of the port of Rouen and navigation,
Musée des antiquités, an art and history museum with antic or gothic works,
Musée de la céramique,
Musée Le Secq des Tournelles...
The
Jardin des Plantes de Rouen is a notable
botanical garden dating to 1840 in its present form; it was previously owned by Scottish banker John Law and the site of several historic balloon ascents.
In the centre of the Place du Vieux Marché is the modern church of
Saint Joan of Arc. This is a large, modern structure which dominates the square. The form of the building represents the pyre on which Joan of Arc was burnt.
Rouen was also home to the
French Grand Prix, hosting the race at the nearby
Rouen-Les-Essarts track sporadically between 1952 and 1968. Much of the former circuit was extant into recent years, before a campaign in 1999 by Rouen authorities to obliterate remainders of Rouen's racing past. Today, little remains beyond the public roads that formed the circuit.
Transport
thumb|200px|right|The [[Tramway de Rouen|métro.]]
Mainline train services operate from
Gare de Rouen-Rive-Droite to
Le Havre and
Paris. Regional services operate to
Caen,
Dieppe, and other local destinations in
Normandy. Daily direct trains operate to
Amiens and
Lille, and direct
TGVs (high-speed trains) connect daily with
Lyon and
Marseille.
City transportation in Rouen is served by the
métro. It branches into two lines out of a metro tunnel running through the city center. Rouen is also served by
TEOR and
buses run in conjunction with the tramway by the transit company
TCAR (Transports en commun de l'agglomération rouennaise), a subsidiary of
Veolia Transport.
Rouen has its own
airport, serving major domestic destinations as well as international destinations in Europe.
The
Seine is a major axis for maritime (cargo) links in the Port of Rouen; and the Cross-Channel ferry ports of
Caen,
Le Havre,
Dieppe (50 minutes), and
Calais, and the
Channel Tunnel are also within easy driving distance (i.e. two and a half hours or less).
Education
200px|thumb|Gros-Horloge.
Higher education in Rouen is provided by the
University of Rouen, the
École Supérieure de Commerce de Rouen (Rouen Business School) and (agronomy and agriculture) - all centred or located at nearby
Mont-Saint-Aignan, and
INSA Rouen and - both at nearby
Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray.
Births
200px|thumb|Tour des archives.200px|thumb|Rouen zénithRouen was the birthplace of:
- Guillaume Couture (1617-1701-04-04), Lay Missionary and diplomat who moved to Quebec around 1640
- Jérémy Thiry (born 1980), politic militant
- Jean Dubuc (Born 1600's), Great Grandfather of Julien Dubuque (1762-1810, French-Canadian explorer) and founder of Dubuque Iowa USA.
- Thomas Aubert, navigator and one of the first French explorers of the New World
Twin towns — Sister cities
Rouen is
twinned with:
In fiction and popular culture
Fine art
thumb|right|Rouen Cathedral, Full Sunlight, by Claude Monet, 1894.
The
Rouen Cathedral was the subject for a series of paintings by the
Impressionist painter
Claude Monet, who painted the same scene at different times of the day. Two paintings are in the
National Gallery of Art in
Washington, D.C.; one is in the
National Museum of Serbia in
Belgrade. The estimated value of one painting is over $40 million.
Literature
- Maupassant, a student of Flaubert, wrote a number of short stories based in and around Rouen.
- In book two of The Strongbow Saga, the Vikings invade and conquer Ruda, also known as Rouen and make it their base in Frankia.
Music
The
British band Supergrass named their fifth studio album
Road to Rouen, punning on an Anglicised version of the city name's pronunciation.
Film
In the 2001 movie
A Knight's Tale, the protagonist William Thatcher played by
Heath Ledger poses as a noble and competes in his first jousting tournament at Rouen.
Computer games
- The game Call of Duty 3 features a map set in Rouen. The map, entitled Rouen, is mainly city and offers fierce city fighting, much like that seen in World War II.
- In the Soul Calibur series of fighting games, Raphael, a playable character, is explained as being born in Rouen. Interestingly, his fighting style involves an English rapier.
- Rouen appears as an important location to protagonist Alice Elliot in the game Shadow Hearts.
See also
