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Revision as of 13:43, 10 September 2010 by 155.84.57.253 (talk) (→Births: removed "protestant" in those cases where it is not pertinent to the matter)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) For other uses, see Rouen (disambiguation). | You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (April 2010) Click for important translation instructions.
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| Rouen | |
|---|---|
 | |
 Coat of arms | |
| Location of Rouen | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Normandy |
| Department | Seine-Maritime |
| Arrondissement | Rouen |
| Intercommunality | CREA |
| Government | |
| • Mayor (2008 - 2014) | Valérie Fourneyron (PS) |
| Area | 21.38 km (8.25 sq mi) |
| • Urban | 448 km (173 sq mi) |
| • Metro | 1,582.51 km (611.01 sq mi) |
| Population | 108,569 |
| • Rank | 36th in France |
| • Density | 5,100/km (13,000/sq mi) |
| • Urban | 494,382 |
| • Urban density | 1,100/km (2,900/sq mi) |
| • Metro | 518,316 |
| • Metro density | 330/km (850/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| INSEE/Postal code | 76540 / |
| Website | www.rouen.fr |
| French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
Rouen (French pronunciation: [ʁwɑ̃]) is the historic 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 11th to the 15th centuries. 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 had an estimated population of 110,276 in 2007.
Administration
Haute-Normandie (Upper Normandy) région, as well as a commune and the préfecture (capital) of the Seine-Maritime département.
Rouen and 70 suburban communes of the metropolitan area form the Agglomeration community of Rouen-Elbeuf-Austreberthe (CREA), with 494,382 inhabitants in it 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 inhabitants.
History
Unknown to Julius Caesar, Rouen was founded by the Gaulish tribe of the Veliocasses, who controlled a large area in the lower Seine valley, which retains a trace of their name, as the Vexin. 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 5th 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 into the lower valley of the Seine in 841, the Vikings overran Rouen until a part of them finally settled and founded a colony led by Rollo (Hrolfr), who was nominated count of Rouen by the king of the Franks in 911. In the 10th century Rouen became 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 which permitted self-government. During the 12th century, Rouen was maybe the site of a yeshiva. At that time, about 6,000 Jews lived in the town, comprising about 20% of the population. In addition, there were 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.
In 1200, a fire destroyed part of the old Romanesque cathedral, leaving Saint Romain's tower, the side porches of the front, and part of the nave. New works in the present Gothic cathedral of Rouen were begun, in the nave, transept, choir, and the lowest section of the lantern tower. On June 24, 1204, Philip II Augustus of France entered Rouen and definitively annexed Normandy to the French Kingdom. The fall of Rouen meant the end of independent Normandy. 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. Wine and wheat were exported to England, with tin and wool received in return. 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 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. Rouen became the capital city of the English power in occupied France and when the duke of Bedford, John Plantagenet bought Joan of Arc from his allie, the duke of Burgundy who had been keeping her in jail since May 1430, she was logically sent to this city for Christmas 1430 and after a long trial by a church court, sentenced to be burned at the stake 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 (about 45% destructions) during World War II : first in June 1940, when the area beween the Notre-Dame cathedral and the Seine river burnt for 48 hours and then, more areas were detroyed between March and August 1944 just before and during the Battle of Normandy and its famed cathedral was partly damaged by Allied bombs. During the German occupation, the German Navy had its headquarters located in a chateau on what is now the Rouen Business School (École Supérieure de Commerce de Rouen).
Main sights
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 the 16th 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 was 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. There was 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
Main article: Transport in Rouen
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 consists of a tram and a bus system. The métro branches into two lines out of a metro tunnel running through the city centre. 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
The University of Rouen, the École Supérieure de Commerce de Rouen (Rouen Business School) and ésitpa (agronomy and agriculture) - all centred or located at nearby Mont-Saint-Aignan, and INSA Rouen and ESIGELEC - both at nearby Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray are schools of higher education located in the Rennes area.
Performing arts
The main opera company in Rouen is the Opéra de Rouen Haute 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.
Births
Rouen was the birthplace of:
- Edward IV (1442–1483), king of England
- Thomas Aubert (Born 1500's), navigator and one of the first French explorers of the New World
- Guillaume Guéroult (1507–1569), editor, translator and poet
- François de Civille (1537–1610), Calvinist's chief under Gabriel, comte de Montgomery
- Isaac Oliver (c.1560-1617), French-born English portrait miniature painter
- Guy de la Brosse (1586–1641), botanist and pharmacist
- Antoine Girard de Saint-Amant (1594–1661), Protestant poet converted to Catholicism
- Samuel Bochart (1599–1667), Protestant theologian and Orientalist
- Jean Dubuc (Born 1600's), Great Grandfather of Julien Dubuque (1762–1810, French-Canadian explorer) and founder of Dubuque, Iowa, USA.
- Pierre Corneille (1606–1684), tragedian
- Guillaume Couture (1617-1701-04-04), Lay Missionary and diplomat who moved to Quebec around 1640
- Adrien Auzout (1622–1691), astronomer
- Thomas Corneille (1625–1709), dramatist, brother of Pierre Corneille
- Noel Alexandre (1630–1724), theologian and ecclesiastical historian
- Catherine Primot-Thiéry (1640- ?), Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville and Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville's mother, both Canadian explorers
- Marie Champmeslé (1642–1698), actress
- René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle (1643–1687), cleric and explorer
- Gabriel Daniel (1649–1728), Jesuit historian
- Nicolas Lemery (1645–1715), chemist
- Jean Jouvenet (1647–1717), painter
- Nicolas Gueudeville (1652–1721), catholic translator, journalist, historian an writer, converted to Protestantism
- Jacques Basnages (1653–1723), Protestant theologian
- Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle (1657–1757), author, nephew of Pierre Corneille
- Pierre Antoine Motteux (1663–1718), French born English translator and dramatist
- Pierre Dangicourt (1664–1727), mathematician
- Pierre François le Courayer (1681–1776), Catholic theological and supporter of the church of England
- François d'Agincourt (1684–1758), composer, harpsichordist and organist
- Jean II Restout (1692–1768), painter
- Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont (1711–1780), novelist
- Jacques-François Blondel (1705–1774), architect, urbanist
- Marie-Madeleine Hachard (1708–1760), nun at Couvent des Ursulines, founder of a sister monastery in New-Orleans
- Jacques Duphly (1715–1789), harpsichordist and composer
- Pierre Levieux (1702–1796), capitaine du navire
- François-Adrien Boïeldieu (1775–1834), composer, mainly of operas
- Pierre Louis Dulong (1785–1838), physicist and chemist
- Théodore Géricault (1791–1824), painter, painted The Raft of the Medusa
- Armand Carrel (1800–1836), writer
- Pierre Adolphe Chéruel (1809–1891), historian
- Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880), novelist, who wrote Madame Bovary
- Eugène Ketterer (1831–1870), composer and pianist
- Maurice Leblanc (1864–1941), novelist, creator of the character Arsène Lupin
- Charles Nicolle (1866–1936), bacteriologist who earned the 1928 Nobel Prize in Medicine
- Georges Guillain (1876–1961), neurologist
- Marcel Dupré (1886–1971), organist and composer
- Philippe Étancelin (1896–1981), Grand Prix motor racing
- Roger Apéry (1916–1994), mathematician
- Jacques Rivette (born 1928), film director
- Anny Duperey (born 1947), actress and novelist
- François Hollande (born 1953), politician and Parti Socialiste's first secretary
- Élise Lucet (born 1963), journalist
- Stéphan Caron (born 1966), freestyle swimmer
- Karin Viard (born 1966), actress
- Vincent Delerm (born 1976), singer-songwriter, pianist
- David Trezeguet (born 1977), French-Argentine football striker
- Ian Mahinmi basketball player
- Christophe Mendy boxer
- Darnel Situ footballer
International relations
See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in FranceTwin towns — Sister cities
Rouen is twinned with:
Gdańsk, Poland, since 1992
Cleveland, United States of America
Hanover, Germany
Norwich, United Kingdom
Ningbo, China
Salerno, Italy, since 2003- Wejherowo, Poland
Jeju City, South Korea, since 2004
In fiction and popular culture
Fine art
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
- The character Erik, or The Opera Ghost of Gaston Leroux's novel The Phantom of the Opera was supposedly born "in a small town not far from Rouen".
- Rouen also played a major part in the Flaubert novel Madame Bovary.
- 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.
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
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. His adopted daughter Amy is also from Rouen, having been a street child living there.
- Rouen appears as an important location to protagonist Alice Elliot in the game Shadow Hearts.
- The Rouen-Les-Essarts Grand Prix circuit is featured in both Grand Prix Legends and RFactor.
- The PC adventure game Touché: The Adventures of the Fifth Musketeer starts in Rouen.
Heraldry
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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".
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See also
References
Notes
- Ratu- is not well explained; -macus, magus is a familiar toponymic suffix signifying "plain".
- As in Ammianus Marcellinus and the Notitia dignitatum; other variants: Ratomagos (Ptolemy, Geography), Ratomagos (Antonine Itinerary, Tabula Peutingeriana).
- Catholic Encyclopedia, at "Diocese of Rouen", records that Saint Mellon was credited with being the first bishop until a Nicaise, linked to Denis of Paris was inserted to precede him: see Diocese of Rouen.
- Recorded in the chronicle of Fontenelle Abbey.
- With the exception of the tower associated with Joan of Arc, which was restored by Viollet-le-Duc, the castle was destroyed at the end of the fifteenth century, its stones quarried for other construction.
- See Popular revolt in late medieval Europe for broad context.
- Bill Marshall, Cristina Johnston, France and the Americas: culture, politics, and history Volume 3, p. 185
- Opéra de Rouen Haute Normandie official web site.
- "Gdańsk Official Website: 'Miasta partnerskie'" (in Polish & English). © 2009 Urząd Miejski w Gdańsku. Retrieved 2009-07-11.
{{cite web}}: External link in|publisher= - "Hanover - Twin Towns" (in German). © 2007-2009 Hannover.de - Offizielles Portal der Landeshauptstadt und der Region Hannover in Zusammenarbeit mit hier.de. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
{{cite web}}: External link in|publisher= - Gutenberg.org
External links
- Template:Fr Site of the Tourist Board
- Template:Fr City council website
- Template:Fr Objectif Rouen : Pictures and descriptions of the most famous monuments
- Transclusion error: {{En}} is only for use in File namespace. Use {{langx|en}} or {{in lang|en}} instead. The Catholic Encyclopedia 1908 detailed ecclesiastical history
- Transclusion error: {{En}} is only for use in File namespace. Use {{langx|en}} or {{in lang|en}} instead. Rouen, Its History and Monuments, by Théodore Licquet, 1840, from Project Gutenberg
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