Rouen Cathedral

Rouen is, more or less, the capital of Normandy. Like every major city it has it's cathedral.

The cathedral at Rouen is an interesting story. It is the tallest in France, but it only achieved that glory at the relatively late date of 1876. For four years it was the tallest building in the world. But that was at a time when the iron and steel and technology of the industrial revolution was allowing people to surpass the wonders of the middle ages. In Rouen, they tacked on a central spire of 495 feet. (In 1880, the Rouen cathedral gave up it's crown as tallest church to Cologne's cathedral.....the subject of a previous post.) As a side note, you will find through various postings that I quote conflicting dates and locations for tallest building in the world. This is the wonder of the internet. You can get very precise information, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the information is accurate. Rouen Cathedral is handicapped by the fact that it is stuck in the heart of the city and closely surrounded by buildings such that you really can't see, or appreciate, the architecture in one view. The cathedral at Chartres, for example, was stunning because you could see it from 10 miles away. Rouen cathedral can't be seen from a block away, due to the crowded buildings.

The other problem with the cathedral is that it was bombed nearly to ruins in WWII. Not by the Germans, mind you, but the British in trying to destroy the war industries. The church tooks something like 7 or 8 or 9 bombs. The blast and fire damaged much of the structure, but luckily none of the main columns were compromised to the point of a major collapse. Over the many years since 1944 they have done much rebuilding and restoration.

Despite these problems, the cathedral has a romantic flair due to the tomb of Richard the Lionhearted. Actually, it is only a tomb for his heart. At the time of his death, it was fashionable to split up the body for burial in multiple places. Rouen got the heart of Richard I of England, Normandy, and Aquitaine - the Lionheart made famous by Robin Hood legends. The rest of Richard's pieces were buried in Fontevraud Abbey and Limousin. Below is the tomb of the heart of Richard the Lionhearted in the Cathedral of Rouen.