Rouen
From Wikinfo
Rouen (population 110,000) is a city situated on the Seine river in Normandy, northern France.
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Administration
Rouen is the [[pr�fecture]] (capital) of the Seine-Maritime [[d�partement]]. It is also the capital of the Haute-Normandie region of France. Rouen is part of Agglom�ration de Rouen Haute-Normandie which gathers 34 towns and 391,375 inhabitants.
History
Rouen was probably founded by the Romans who called it Rotomagus. In the 5th century it became the seat of the bishopry and in the 9th century, the seat of the Duke of Normandy.
On April 16, 1203 Philippe Auguste entered Rouen and definitively annexed Normandy to the French Kingdom in 1204.
During the Hundred Years' War, on January 19, 1419, Rouen surrendered to Henry V of England who made Normandy a part of England. Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in Rouen on May 30, 1431.
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 [[Mus�e d'Orsay]] in Paris.
Other famous structures include the Gothic Church of Saint Maclou (15th century); the Tour de Jeanne d'Arc, where Joan of Arc was imprisoned in 1430; 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 faience and porcelain for which Rouen was renown during the 16th to 18th centuries.
Miscellaneous
Rouen is served by a light metro system.
External links
- http://www.agglo-rouennaise.fr/index1.html
- http://www.mairie-rouen.fr/
- http://www.rouenflashmobs.fr.st/
References
- Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Rouen" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouen, used under the GNU Free Documentation License
