"The nations of our days could not do that in their bosom, the conditions are not equal; but it depends on them that equality leads them to servitude or freedom, enlightenment or barbarism, prosperity or miseries "
- Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859)
Images of yesteryear * ...
* Just click on the postcard to know the link & see even more old photos.
There are several half-timbered and corbelled houses on the square, a large part of which is in fact only made up of old facades which have been brought up to this place. It housed the Saint-Sauveur church which was destroyed in 1793 but whose foundations were cleared during the renovation of the square. The Sainte-Jeanne d'Arc church was built there in 1979. This church, with its daring and contested architecture, allows you to admire the stained glass windows of the old Saint-Vincent church, formerly located down the rue Jeanne d'Arc. and destroyed in 1944. Its appearance evokes both a Viking ship and a fish.
It is impossible to name the place without mentioning the torture of Joan of Arc who was burnt alive there on May 30, 1431 . The place of public executions with the pillory and the fire wall for the pyres was exhumed at the same time as the foundations of the Saint-Sauveur church.
Besides, it was the place of public capital executions until 1836.
A cross was erected next to the location of the pyre, as had been stipulated during the annulment process known as "rehabilitation" in 1456 .
This cross has the value of a national monument in tribute to Joan of Arc, erected in accordance with the law of July 10, 1920 establishing a national holiday of Joan of Arc, one of the articles of which states: "It will be erected in honor of Joan of Arc, on the Place de Rouen, where she was burned alive, a monument with an inscription: "To Joan of Arc, the people recognizing" . "
... My photos of the 21st century
"The Crown" -Norman house of 1345. It would be the oldest inn in France.
"To run fairs and markets, one who wins and a hundred ruined." -The proverbs and sayings of the Franche-Comté (1876)-
"The cheap cure the purse." -Common proverbs and sayings (1611)-
"Cheap goods costs me money." -The Dictionary of Provencal Proverbs (1823)-
"Merchant with no money, fair clutter." -The sayings of Oc and proverbs of Provence (1965)-
"Two women make a plaid, three a big caquet, and four a full market." -The flower of French proverbs (1853)-
"Never needs made it cheap." -The dictionary of Italian sentences and proverbs (1892)-
"Thus are the markets as we make them." -French proverb; The Little Encyclopedia of Proverbs (1852)-
"Good market pulls money off the purse. " -French proverb; The Treasure of Sentences (1568)-
"Yesterday and Today".
On the left, a postcard * of L'auberge "l'Ecu de France", which competed at the time with the restaurant "The Crown" & on the right, the building as it is today.
Some nice details from the past.
"L'écu de France"
"You get to know people better at the market than at the church." -German proverb-
"1640"
"Cash buys cheaply." -German proverb; The dictionary of German proverbs and idiocy (1827)-
"If the lunatics go to the market, the shopkeepers make money." -English proverb; English proverbs and sayings (1854)-
"A market is good when go there a lot of fools." -Danish proverb; The Dictionary of Danish Proverbs (1757)-
2019 has arrived!
The Place du Vieux Marché is boiling, noisy, under renovation for some time now. Some would say that Rouen is still under construction, this is not untrue. It is especially the motorists who complain about it, being a "walker", I always find a way to pass the obstacles that the consequent works of the place cause. I learned that the workers found bones during excavations near the church, proof that they also participate in history! They are very careful in their task hoping to find historical treasures, I heard them the other day rave about what could have been if they found a bone, I found it great. This way of feeling concerned, of being for some time archaeologists in their work, however difficult, ungrateful.
I sincerely liked their enthusiasm, they were my first morning smile and I thank them.
Sainte-Croix-des-Pelletiers Street
"I don't like new houses: their faces are indifferent."
-Sully Prudhomme / Les Solitudes-
Why put plants on a balcony when you can hang a bike on it ?!
Bons Enfants street
Its name comes from the college of Bons-Enfants founded in 1358.
"If I ever have children I will ask for only one thing: To be the father." -Jean-Louis-Auguste Commerson / The little jester encyclopedia (1860)-
"The first saints that children worship are those of their mothers." -Jean-Louis-Auguste Commerson / The little jester encyclopedia (1860)- "Saint" or "sein"( boobs) are pronounced the same way in French , the "t" of saint is death in our language.
"Children learn easily to pronounce Dad. Besides, it is only the first pa that costs." -Jean-Louis-Auguste Commerson / The little jester encyclopedia (1860)-
Crown Hotel
Where we find mentioned, on parchment, the trace of the rents paid by Raoul Leprévost, the Master of the Crown at the time: 2 floors for the "Pitancière" of the Priory of Saint-Lô (14 and 15 th centuries) and 60 soils to the Communities of the Daughters of God (1345-1610).
In 1431, Raoul Baudry, Tavernier profession, could see, through the windows of La Couronne, the torture of Joan of Arc.
Centuries have passed ... Yes, the oldest inn in France, stamped 1345, saw Joan of Arc, but also Pierre Corneille, whose family home was a stone's throw away.
In those centuries, La Couronne bore its title of Inn and it is said that the lawyer Thouret, the man who was going to invent the French departments, frequented it on the very eve of the Revolution.
1854. The American billionaire Cornélus Vanderbilt makes a stopover in Rouen with his North Star steam-yatch ...
"We were all anxious to find our way to the place de la Pucelle, where Joan of Arc was burned in 1341. Here, turning from the spot, we found a house considered as one of the oldest avern: La Couronne ...! "
The Auberge de la Couronne had become the Hôtel de La Couronne, before being simply La Couronne. This Crown wanted to be greedy in the center of Rouen, next to Les Halles and it knew celebrity ... since Curnonsky, Prince of Gastronomes frequented it, while the famous Dorin, whose trout has remained famous, sat for several years at La Crown and contributed to the gastronomic reputation of Rouen.
Darwin & Dominique Cauvin have taken over the great tradition of duck à la rouennais, to the great satisfaction of customers who sometimes come from far away. (Sic)
Between yesterday and tomorrow
Jacques Herman
Yesterday and tomorrow
All the mornings of the world
Look a little like
They laugh the day before
We also very often
We don't have time
Past only contempt
The ancients were neither
Less wise nor
Less enlightened than us
Nothing excludes that tomorrow
Just a pale shadow
From today
