The City of Rouen - May 2011

Modern apartment buildings are brightly lit in the foreground, further back the towers of the medieval Eglise St Ouen rise above the old town. The Eglise was originaly part of a Benedictine monastery. In the cemetery attached to the Eglise, Joan of Arc (La Pucelle d'Orleans) was sentenced to be burned alive in 1431. The Eglise St Ouen rivals (and in my view surpasses) Rouen Cathedral for hight, light, sense of space and overall magnificence. Rouen has three huge and historic Christian church buildings to look after - St Ouen, the Cathedral, and St Maclou; a tall order for any city.