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Rouen Cathedral
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Rouen Cathedral is a Gothic cathedral in Rouen, in northwestern France. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Rouen and Normandy.
ic except the romanesque crypt:
The Butter Tower was erected in the early 16th century. Butter was banned during Lent and those who did not wish to forgoe this indulgence would donate monies of six deniers Tournois from each diocesan for this permission.
Rouen Cathedral was the tallest building (the lantern tower with the cast iron spire of the 19th century ) in the world (151 m) from 1876 to 1880.
windows are still decorated with stained glass of the 13th century, famous because of a special cobalt blue colour, known as "the blue from Chartres".
It contains a tomb of Richard the Lionheart which contains his heart.
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Encyclopedia
Rouen Cathedral is a Gothic cathedral in Rouen, in northwestern France. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Rouen and Normandy.
Architecture
Gothic except the romanesque crypt:
- Early gothic: Saint Romain's tower (12th century ), side porchs of the front, a part of the nave.
- High gothic: mainworks: nave, transept, choir, first floor of the lantern tower (13th century ), side chapels, lady's chapel, side doorways (14th century)
- Late gothic (flamboyant ): last storey of Saint Romain's tower (15th century ), butter tower, main porch of the front, two storeys of the lantern tower (16th century ).
The Butter Tower was erected in the early 16th century. Butter was banned during Lent and those who did not wish to forgoe this indulgence would donate monies of six deniers Tournois from each diocesan for this permission.
Rouen Cathedral was the tallest building (the lantern tower with the cast iron spire of the 19th century ) in the world (151 m) from 1876 to 1880.
Features
Some windows are still decorated with stained glass of the 13th century, famous because of a special cobalt blue colour, known as "the blue from Chartres".
It contains a tomb of Richard the Lionheart which contains his heart. His bowels were buried within the church of the Chateau of Châlus-Chabrol in the Limousin. It was from the walls of the Chateau of Châlus-Chabrol that the crossbow bolt was fired, which led to his death once the wound became septic. His corporal remains were buried next to his father at Fontevraud Abbey near Chinon and Saumur, France. Richard's effigy is on top of the tomb, and his name is inscribed in Latin on the side.
The Cathedral also contains the tomb of Rollo (Hròlfr or Robert ), one of Richard's ancestors, the founder and first ruler of the Viking principality in what soon became known as Normandy.
The cathedral contained the black marble tomb of John Plantagenet or John Lancaster, duke of Bedford too, who is considered as Joan of Arc's murderer, he became a canon priest of the cathedral after her death. His original tomb was destroyed by the calvinists in the 16th century. Today we can read a plaque remembering him.
Events
The calvinists damaged many furniture, tombs, stained-glass windows and statues during the wars of religion 16th century.
The French State nationalized the building in the 18th century and sold furniture, statues to make money. The chapels fences were melt to make guns.
The cathedral was first bombed in April 1944, taking 7 bombs that narrowly missed destroying a key pillar of the lantern tower, but damaged much the south aisle and destroyed two rose windows. One of the bombs did not explode, because it was fortunately empty. Later on as a consequence of a second bombing before the landing June 1944, the north tower, the oldest one, burnt entirely and the bells were melt on the floor.
In 1999 a violent wind storm provoked the fall of a wooden turret, covered with copper (26 tons ) into the church, damaging the choir.
In Art
*The Rouen Cathedral was the subject for a series of paintings (28 of the front ) 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 Getty Center in Los Angeles, CA; one is in the National Museum of Serbia in Belgrade; one is in a museum of Cologne; one in the Rouen fine art museum and five in the musée d'Orsay in Paris. The estimated value of one painting is over $40 million.
- Roy Lichtenstein also made his series of pictures representing the Cathedral's front.
- Joris-Karl Huysmans wrote La Cathédrale about the Cathedral, a novel based on an intensive examination of the building.
Burials
See also
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