Rouen is the historic capital of Normandy and the administrative center of Seine-Maritime, located on the Seine River. Nicknamed the «City of a hundred steeples» by Victor Hugo, it is a veritable open-air museum with a well-preserved medieval historic center.
Its heart is home to Gothic treasures such as the majestic Notre-Dame Cathedral (immortalized by Monet), the Abbatiale Saint-Ouen, and the Gros-Horloge , a Renaissance astronomical clock.
Rouen is inextricably linked with the fate of Joan of Arc, who was tried and burned alive here in 1431, an event commemorated on the Place du Vieux Marché.
It is also a major seaport (5th largest in France) and a dynamic economic and university center. Every four to six years, it is the capital of the maritime world with the Armada.
