Continuing from the last post on Rouen, lets get on with the walking tour around the city.

A short walk from the Notre Dame cathedral will bring you to the L’aître Saint-Maclou. But on the way, be sure to observe the beautiful half-timbered houses (below).

The houses are characteristic of this area of France, but you will see some of the best specimens in this area. Also, if you look carefully, in one of the buildings, you will find a way of building in which each floor juts more into the street than the one below - giving the building the appearance of an upside down staircase, and this has since been banned in France. You will also pass by a small courtyard, which seems as nondescript as any other, but was popularly known as the Booksellers courtyard and is where all the literati came to get fodder for their brains. We also passed by some street singers dressed in period French costumes.

Before you finally reach the Aître Saint-Maclou , you will also pass by the St.Maclou church (below), built between 1437 and 1521. Built in a flamboyant Gothic style, the most notable feature of this church is its five paneled facade, arranged in the arc of a circle and is composed of a pyramid-like succession of triangular lines that give it its own special grace and charm.

The Aître Saint-Maclou (below) has a strange history - It dates back to the Great Plague of 1348. The Great Plague also known as The Black Death, was a devastating pandemic that first struck Europe in the mid-late-14th century, killing between a third and two thirds of Europe’s population. There was unprecedented demand for burial grounds, and the Aître Saint-Maclou was one of the buildings built to meet this demand.

The building is now home to a Regional Fine Arts school, but the morbidity of its original purpose is well reflected in the macabre carvings of human skulls, bones, hourglasses and gravediggers tools on the half-timbered building that surrounds the central courtyard. Look carefully, and you will also find a cat’s skeleton that was later found in the walls, eerily preserved under a glass case.

From the ghoulish Aître Saint-Maclou, a not-so-long walk brought us to the St. Ouen’s abbey (below), one of the most powerful Benedictine monasteries in the Normandy region. The abbey is said to have been founded in 750AD, and it remained an active monastery till the late 18th century, after which it was used as Rouen’s town hall for a short period of time, while the power of the monastery was at its peak. Built mainly in Gothic style, the inside of the abbey is impressive for its bareness, huge size and exceptional lighting. The narrow pillars, the use of vertical lines and the absence of any chapels in the nave further accentuate the perception of size, while the large windows on three levels gives it the unusual lighting.

Dig a bit into Rouen’s history and there is a chapter that most locals won’t be proud of, and that is the burning of Joan of Arc in the city’s market square on 30 May 1431, in the midst of the hundred years’ war. A heroine at 17, Joan was convicted of heresy at 19, and burnt at the stake at this very place.

The old market square still exist, even though it has changed since. But you will also find a a memorial site here, which includes a huge cross, a statue of Joan of Arc, a church and a small museum.

In the next installment, we will go outside Rouen to explore its scenic surroundings.