

Close to the Place du Vieux-Marche [1], Bourgtheroulde Hotel, built during the first half of the 16th century, opens on the charming Place de la Pucelle [2]. The Gothic flamboyant-style main building has a beautiful hexagonal staircase [3]. The six windows Renaissance gallery [4] is entirely sculpted [5] and presents a bas-relief of the Camp du Drap d'Or meeting between Henri VIII and François 1st .
The most famous Rouen paved street links the Place du Vieux-Marche to the Cathedral. Lined with beautiful half-timbered houses of the 15, 16 and 17th centuries [6] [7], la rue du Gros-Horloge (Big-Clock street) has been a very busy place downtown since the Middle-Ages. The Gros-Horloge monument [8] spans over the street : the belfry is flanked by an arch that bears the clock with its gilded lead faces. A single hand shows the hours, the days appear in the underneath window and the phases of the moon in the bull's eye above [9]. Scenes from the Holy Bible decorate the ceiling of the vault. In the belfry, an ideal place for exhibitions, two bells of the 13th century can be seen, one of them still ringing for curfew at 9 p.m. every evening.
The half-timbered Rouen houses, built on waterproof stone bases, have an oak frame often richly sculptured - see the wood caryatids of Etancourt Mansion [10]. The space between the colombes (small wood pieces) are filled with plaster. Till 1520 the second and/or third floors were corbelling. The sloping roofs and the walls facing winds and rain are slated [11] [12]. Totally independant from one another, these houses could be easily dismounted and reassembled. (Read also "Joan of Arc in Rouen" and "Rouen - From the Cathedral to the Aitre Saint-Maclou").
Francerama is a product Copyright © Proximinfo
Kervoaziou 29630 ST JEAN DU DOIGT - France
Tél : +33 (0)6 82 48 00 75
http://www.proximinfo.com
"Francerama", "La France pas a pas", "France-Random" and "At random in France" are registred trade marks of Proximinfo.