Photos from Rouen

This is the gothic cathedral with its tower stretching 151 metres into the sky.
The work erecting this cathedral started in 1201 but already in the 4th century one could find smaller church buildings on this particular place.

This is another part of the dome seen from another angle, the so called Butter Tower - La Tour de Beurre.
Why this name? According to Aurore it stems from the fact that money from the manufacturing of butter in the region paid for the erection of this tower.

...and a beautiful church portal.

According to Aurore there are more than a hundred churches in Rouen and that is quite impressing, remembering that the inner city has no more than 110 000 inhabitants (with suburbs - the metropolitan area - 532 000, approximately). One of the cities in France with the largest numbers of churches for sure.

The following photos - beginning with the above - depicts the extremely genuine, well-preserved wooden houses all dating from the 17th, 16th, 15th and even down to the 14th century.
Each year one renovate and restore a number of these houses and this is an ongoing process but overall - architecturally - Rouen is one of the most diversified cities in France.

Falling or not falling?

We could add a lot more photos of these wooden buildings but why not visit the town and take a look for yourselves, you won't be disappointed.

The emblematic Le Gros-Horloge (the link contains information only in French), built between 1389-1398.

This inner courtyard and its buildings is called Aître St Maclou and the word aître is derived from the latin world atrium, meaning the entrance room of a house, in extension - in this case - meaning the yard of the church, that is to say the cemetery.
The cemetery around the church St Maclou became, during the plague in the 14th century, to small and hereby one inaugurated this space (1357) and it became a mass grave for all those dying from this terrible disease.
In the wooden structure one find different carvings depicting skulls, skeletons and other symbols refering to death.