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Rouen | |
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Prefecture and commune | |
 From left to right, top to bottom: partial view of the city and the Seine from Côte Sainte-Catherine; the courthouse; Place du Vieux-Marché; rue du Gros-Horloge, at night; Rouen Cathedral; the National Museum of Education; sailboats during the 2019 edition of the Armada; the Gustave-Flaubert Bridge. | |
 Flag  Coat of arms | |
 Location of Rouen | |
  Rouen  Rouen | |
| Coordinates: 49°26′34″N 01°05′19″E / 49.44278°N 1.08861°E | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Normandy |
| Department | Seine-Maritime |
| Arrondissement | Rouen |
| Canton | 3 cantons |
| Intercommunality | Métropole Rouen Normandie |
| Government | |
| • Mayor (2020–2026) | Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol[1] (PS) |
Area 1 | 21.38 km2 (8.25 sq mi) |
| • Urban (2018) | 461.1 km2 (178.0 sq mi) |
| • Metro (2018) | 2,792.2 km2 (1,078.1 sq mi) |
| Population (2023)[2] | 117,662 |
| • Rank | 36th in France |
| • Density | 5,503/km2 (14,250/sq mi) |
| • Urban (2018) | 470,369 |
| • Urban density | 1,020/km2 (2,642/sq mi) |
| • Metro (2018) | 702,945 |
| • Metro density | 251.75/km2 (652.04/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (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. | |
Rouen (UK: /ˈruːɒ̃, ˈruːɒn/, US: /ruːˈɒ̃, ruːˈɒn/;[3][4] French: [ʁwɑ̃] ⓘ or [ʁu.ɑ̃])[needs Norman IPA] is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of region of Normandy and the department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe, the population of the metropolitan area (French: aire d'attraction) is 702,945 (2018).[5] People from Rouen are known as Rouennais.
Rouen was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy during the Middle Ages. It was one of the capitals of the Anglo-Norman and Angevin dynasties, which ruled both England and large parts of modern France from the 11th to the 15th centuries. From the 13th century onwards, the city experienced a remarkable economic boom, thanks in particular to the development of textile factories and river trade. Claimed by both the French and the English during the Hundred Years' War, it was on its soil that Joan of Arc was tried and burned alive on 30 May 1431. Severely damaged by the wave of bombing in 1944, it nevertheless regained its economic dynamism in the post-war period thanks to its industrial sites and its large seaport, which merged with the ports of Le Havre and Paris in 2021 to form the HAROPA Port.[6]
Endowed with a prestige established during the medieval era, and with a long architectural heritage in its historical monuments, Rouen is an important cultural capital. Several renowned establishments are located here, such as the Museum of Fine Arts, Le Secq des Tournelles museum, and Rouen Cathedral.
Seat of an archdiocese, it also hosts a court of appeal and a university. Every four to six years, Rouen becomes the showcase for a large gathering of sailing ships called "L'Armada"; this event makes the city an occasional capital of the maritime world.
History
[edit]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.[7] In 1150, Rouen received its founding charter which permitted self-government.
During the 12th century, Rouen was the site of a yeshiva known as La Maison Sublime. Discovered in 1976, it is now a museum.[8] At that time, about 6,000 Jews lived in the town, comprising about 20% of the population.[citation needed]
On 24 June 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.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]
In the 13th and 14th centuries 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.[citation needed] In 1306, he decided to expel the Jewish community of Rouen, then numbering some five or six thousand. 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.[citation needed]
During the Hundred Years' War, on 19 January 1419, Rouen surrendered after a long siege to Henry V of England, who annexed Normandy once again to the Plantagenet domains. French soldier Alain Blanchard summarily hung English prisoners of war from the city walls during the siege, for which he was beheaded after Rouen fell, while canon and vicar general of Rouen Robert de Livet excommunicated Henry V, resulting in him being imprisoned for five years in England.[9] Joan of Arc, who supported a return to French rule, was burned at the stake on 30 May 1431 in Rouen, where most inhabitants supported the duke of Burgundy, the French king's enemy. The king of France, Charles VII, recaptured the town in 1449.
Rouen was staunchly Catholic during the French Wars of Religion, and underwent an unsuccessful five-month siege in 1591/2 by the Protestant Henry IV of France and an English force under Earl of Essex. A brief account by an English participant has survived.[10]
During the repression of January and February 1894, the police conducted raids targeting the anarchists living there, without much success.[11][12][13] The first competitive motor race ran from Paris to Rouen in 1894.[citation needed]
During the German occupation in World War II, the Kriegsmarine had its headquarters located in a chateau on what is now the Rouen Business School. The city was heavily damaged during the same war on D-Day, and its famed cathedral was almost destroyed by Allied bombs.
Main sights
[edit]
Left to right: Saint-Ouen, Rouen Cathedral and Saint-Maclou
Gros-Horloge
Rouen is known for 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.[14] It is located in the Gros Horloge street.
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