Rouen

Rouen
Prefecture and commune
Top: Downtown Rouen and the Seine River. Middle left: Maritime museum. Centre: Le Gros-Horloge. Middle right: Gustave-Flaubert Bridge. Bottom: Rouen Cathedral.

Coat of arms
Rouen
Location within Normandy region
Rouen
Coordinates: 49°26′N 1°06′E / 49.44°N 1.10°E / 49.44; 1.10Coordinates: 49°26′N 1°06′E / 49.44°N 1.10°E / 49.44; 1.10
Country France
Region Normandy
Department Seine-Maritime
Arrondissement Rouen
Canton 3 cantons
Intercommunality Métropole Rouen Normandie
Government
 • Mayor (2014-2020) Yvon Robert (PS)
Area1 21.38 km2 (8.25 sq mi)
 • Urban 448 km2 (173 sq mi)
 • Metro (2010) 1,800 km2 (700 sq mi)
Population (2012)2 111,557
 • Rank 36th in France
 • Density 5,200/km2 (14,000/sq mi)
 • Urban (2010) 494,382
 • Urban density 1,100/km2 (2,900/sq mi)
 • Metro (2011) 655,013
 • Metro density 360/km2 (940/sq mi)
Time zone UTC+1 (CET (UTC +1))
 • Summer (DST) UTC+2 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code 76540 /
Website www.rouen.fr

1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Rouen ( Rouen in French ; (French pronunciation: ​[ʁwɑ̃]; Frankish: Rodomo; Latin: Rotomagus, Rothomagus) is a city on the River Seine in the north of France. It is the capital of the region of Normandy. Formerly one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe, Rouen was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy during 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 11th to the 15th centuries.

The population of the metropolitan area (in French: agglomération) at the 2011 census was 655,013, with the city proper having an estimated population of 111,557. People from Rouen are known as Rouennais.

Administration

Rouen and its metropolitan area of 70 suburban communes form the Métropole Rouen Normandie, with 494,382 inhabitants at the 2010 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.

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. It was considered 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 5th century, it became the seat of a bishopric and later a capital of Merovingian Neustria.

From their first incursion into 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 local dukes, until William the Conqueror moved his residence to Caen. In 1150, Rouen received its founding charter which permitted self-government. During the 12th 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.

On June 24, 1204, King 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 also depended for its prosperity on the river traffic of the Seine, on which it enjoyed a monopoly that reached as far upstream as Paris.

In the 14th 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 to allow 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 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.

During the German occupation, the German Navy had its headquarters located in a chateau on what is now the Rouen Business School. The city was heavily damaged during World War II on D-day and its famed cathedral was almost destroyed by Allied bombs.

Main sights

Left to right: St Ouen, Notre Dame, St Maclou

Rouen is known for its Rouen Cathedral, with its Tour de Beurre (butter tower) financed by the sale of indulgences for the consumption of butter during Lent. The cathedral's gothic façade (completed in the 16th century) 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 the 14th century.[1] It is located in the Gros Horloge street.

Other famous structures include Rouen Castle, whose keep is known as 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 but in the since destroyed tour de lady Pucelle); 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; the Gothic Church of St Maclou (15th century); 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 also noted for its surviving half-timbered buildings.

There are many museums in Rouen: the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen, an art museum with pictures of well-known painters such as Claude Monet and Géricault; the Musée maritime fluvial et portuaire, a museum on the history of the port of Rouen and navigation; Musée des antiquités,[2] an art and history museum with local works from the Bronze Age through the Renaissance, the Musée de la céramique and the Musée Le Secq des Tournelles.

The Jardin des Plantes de Rouen is a notable botanical garden once owned by Scottish banker John Law dated from 1840 in its present form. It was the site of Élisa Garnerin's parachute jump from a balloon in 1817.

In the centre of the Place du Vieux Marché (the site of Joan of Arc's pyre)[3] is the modern church of St Joan of Arc. This is a large, modern structure which dominates the square. The form of the building represents an upturned viking boat and a fish shape.[4]

Rouen was also home to the French Grand Prix, hosting the race at the nearby Rouen-Les-Essarts track sporadically between 1952 and 1968. In 1999 Rouen authorities demolished the grandstands and other remnants of Rouen's racing past. Today, little remains beyond the public roads that formed the circuit.

Climate

Rouen has an oceanic climate (Cfb in the Koeppen climate classification).

Climate data for Rouen (1981–2010 averages)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 14.7
(58.5)		 18.9
(66)		 22.3
(72.1)		 26.4
(79.5)		 30.0
(86)		 34.2
(93.6)		 37.9
(100.2)		 38.1
(100.6)		 31.3
(88.3)		 28.0
(82.4)		 20.3
(68.5)		 15.6
(60.1)		 38.1
(100.6)
Average high °C (°F) 6.4
(43.5)		 7.3
(45.1)		 10.8
(51.4)		 13.7
(56.7)		 17.3
(63.1)		 20.3
(68.5)		 22.8
(73)		 22.8
(73)		 19.5
(67.1)		 15.0
(59)		 9.9
(49.8)		 6.6
(43.9)		 14.4
(57.9)
Average low °C (°F) 1.1
(34)		 1.1
(34)		 3.2
(37.8)		 4.7
(40.5)		 8.1
(46.6)		 10.7
(51.3)		 12.8
(55)		 12.8
(55)		 10.4
(50.7)		 7.8
(46)		 4.1
(39.4)		 1.7
(35.1)		 6.6
(43.9)
Record low °C (°F) −17.1
(1.2)		 −13.4
(7.9)		 −10.4
(13.3)		 −4.8
(23.4)		 −2.2
(28)		 1.1
(34)		 5.9
(42.6)		 5.0
(41)		 2.1
(35.8)		 −3.2
(26.2)		 −8.3
(17.1)		 −11.3
(11.7)		 −17.1
(1.2)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 76.3
(3.004)		 60.4
(2.378)		 67.1
(2.642)		 59.2
(2.331)		 74.3
(2.925)		 63.7
(2.508)		 68.9
(2.713)		 65.1
(2.563)		 65.5
(2.579)		 83.5
(3.287)		 76.8
(3.024)		 90.9
(3.579)		 851.7
(33.531)
Average precipitation days 13.0 10.3 11.9 10.7 11.8 9.5 9.4 9.0 9.7 12.4 13.0 13.0 133.6
Average snowy days 4.7 4.2 3.3 1.8 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.7 3.4 19.3
Average relative humidity (%) 90 86 83 78 79 80 79 80 84 89 90 91 84.1
Mean monthly sunshine hours 58.6 74.5 117.4 158.0 182.8 202.2 199.2 191.8 156.1 107.8 60.0 49.2 1,557.5
Source #1: Météo France[5][6]
Source #2: Infoclimat.fr (humidity and snowy days, 1961–1990)[7]

Transport

Mainline trains operate from Gare de Rouen-Rive-Droite to Le Havre and Paris, and regional trains 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 consists of a tram and a bus system. The tramway branches into two lines out of a tunnel under the city centre. Rouen is also served by TEOR (Transport Est-Ouest Rouennais) and by buses run in conjunction with the tramway by 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. The Cross-Channel ferry ports of Caen, Le Havre, Dieppe (50 minutes) and Calais, and the Channel Tunnel are within easy driving distance (two and a half hours or less).

Gros-Horloge
The tramway

Education

The main schools of higher education are the University of Rouen and the École Supérieure de Commerce de Rouen (NEOMA Business School), ésitpa (agronomy and agriculture), both located at nearby Mont-Saint-Aignan, and the INSA Rouen, ESIGELEC and the CESI, both at nearby Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray.

Performing arts

The main opera company in Rouen is the Opéra de Rouen - Normandie. The company performs in the Théâtre des Arts, 7 rue du Docteur Rambert. The company presents opera, classical and other types of music, both vocal and instrumental, as well as dance performances.[8] Every five years, the city hosts the large maritime exposition, L'Armada.[9]

Notable people

A class at the Lycée Pierre-Corneille, Rouen 1902, artists Robert Antoine Pinchon (second row, right) and Marcel Duchamp (third row, left)
L'Académie de Rouen c. 1935, Robert Antoine Pinchon, third row, right
Robert Antoine Pinchon, 1905–06, La foire Saint-Romain sur la place Saint-Vivien, Rouen, oil on canvas, 49 x 59.4 cm
The hanging committee at the Salon des Artistes Rouennais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen, Robert Antoine Pinchon (center) 1934
Robert Antoine Pinchon, 1905, Le Pont aux Anglais, Rouen, oil on canvas, 38 × 46 cm, private collection
Salon des Artistes Rouennais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen, c. 1930

Rouen was the birthplace of:

International relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

Rouen is twinned with:

Fine art

Rouen Cathedral, Full Sunlight, by Claude Monet, 1894.

Rouen Cathedral is the subject of 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.; two are in the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow; one is in the National Museum of Serbia in Belgrade. The estimated value of one painting is over $40 million.

Sculpture

During the second half of the 20th century, several sculptures by Jean-Yves Lechevallier were erected in the city.

Fleurs d'eau, by Jean-Yves Lechevallier

Literature

The Rouen area is an integral part of the work of French writer Annie Ernaux.

  • May Wedderburn Cannan wrote of Rouen in her 1915 poem on World War I "Rouen".

Music

  • Referenced to in Puccini's one-act opera, Il tabarro. In the opera, Luigi asks his boss, the barge owner Michele, to drop him off in Rouen because he is secretly in love with Michele's wife, Giorgetta and cannot stand to share her with him.
  • The British rock band Supergrass named their fifth studio album Road to Rouen, punning on an Anglicised pronunciation of the city's name.
  • French band Les Dogs formed in Rouen in 1973.
  • English rock band Arcane Roots named a song on their EP Left Fire 'Rouen'.

Film

The 2000 film The Taste of Others was filmed and set in Rouen. 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. The 1952 film "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" references the memoirs of Harry Street titled "The Road to Rouen" in the scene with Harry and Uncle Bill.

Video games

Heraldry

 The arms of Rouen are blazoned :
Gules, a pascal lamb, haloed and contorny, holding a banner argent charged with a cross Or, and on a chief azure, 3 fleurs de lys Or

This may be rendered, "On a red background a haloed white pascal lamb looking back over its shoulder (contorny) holds a white banner bearing a gold cross; above, a broad blue band across the top bears 3 gold fleurs de lis".
On the front of the "Grand Poste" (rue Jeanne d'Arc), the banner is charged with a leopard (the lion passant seen on Norman and English arms). This was the official seal of Rouen at the beginning of the 12th century, before Normandy was incorporated into Capetian France

See also

References

  1. ↑ Miller, Derek (August 5, 2017). "Normandy full of beauty and history". Delaware State News.
  2. ↑ ": : : Musées en Haute-Normandie : : :". Musees-haute-normandie.fr. Archived from the original on 16 November 2006. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  3. ↑ "Rouen . visite-de-rouen.com . Place du Vieux Marché". Visite-de-rouen.com. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
  4. ↑ fr:Église Sainte-Jeanne-d'Arc de Rouen
  5. ↑ "Données climatiques de la station de Rouen" (in French). Meteo France. Retrieved January 5, 2016.
  6. ↑ "Climat Haute-Normandie" (in French). Meteo France. Retrieved January 5, 2016.
  7. ↑ "Normes et records 1961-1990: Rouen-Boos (76) - altitude 151m" (in French). Infoclimat. Retrieved January 5, 2016.
  8. ↑ Opéra de Rouen - Haute-Normandie official web site.
  9. ↑ Rouen - Armada website.
  10. ↑ "French Club Will Observe Bastile Day". Baton Rouge Morning Advocate (sec. D, p. 10). July 2, 1964.
  11. ↑ "Sister Cities International (SCI)". Sister-cities.org. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
  12. ↑ "Gdańsk Official Website: 'Miasta partnerskie'" (in Polish and English). gdansk.pl. Retrieved 11 July 2009.
  13. ↑ "Hanover – Twin Towns" (in German). hanover.de/ Hannover.de – Offizielles Portal der Landeshauptstadt und der Region Hannover in Zusammenarbeit mit hier.de. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 17 July 2009.
  14. ↑ "British towns twinned with French towns". Archant Community Media Ltd. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  15. ↑ "The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux - Free Ebook". gutenberg.org. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
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