Rouen Cathedral

Rouen cathedral (begun 1202 AD)

The people of Rouen, in northern France, decided to build themselves a new cathedral in 1200 AD, just after people started building Chartres cathedral, and only about forty years after they began building Laon Cathedral and Notre Dame in Paris.

Unlike these other cathedrals, though, it took more than three hundred years to finish Rouen cathedral, so that they didn't finish the front, or façade, until 1530 AD (and they never did finish one of the towers). That's why it looks so much lacier and fancier than the other façades.

Inside the church, the people of Rouen (roo-AHN) followed the ideas of the architect of Chartres cathedral and so finished building the nave and the apse much more quickly, by 1220 AD. Rouen, however, was a little smaller than Chartres - only 98 feet high.

Rouen nave

Like Chartres, Rouen has a four-part groin vaulted roof, and flying buttresses all along the outside to help hold up the roof. Again like Chartres, the walls are nearly all glass windows, and between the windows the thin columns have almost no capitals, but just draw your eyes upward. At Rouen, though, the gallery is big, like at Notre Dame, and the arches beneath are lower.

Rouen flying buttresses

To find out more about Rouen cathedral, check out this book from Amazon.com or from your library:

Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction, by David Macaulay (1981). Beautiful drawings and clear text explain exactly how medieval craftsmen built a cathedral, from foundation to the stained glass windows. For kids.

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