France! Rouen, Capital of Normandy

La Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Rouen, which survived WWII bombing.
Statue of Virgin and Child (1777) in a chapel inside the 13th century gothic Cathedral. This marble 'Altar dedicated to Our lady of Vow' (Autel de Notre Dame du Vœu), commemorates the vow made by the people of Rouen to avert the plague (much feared since The Black Death in Europe, 1347-'50, in which one-third of the population of Europe died). "The statue of the Virgin, a much esteemed sculpture by Felix Lecomte (1737-1817). This altar has retained the name autel da væu (or the altar of the vow) since 1637, on account of a grand procession, which took place at that time, to obtain the cessation of the plague. The procession, in reentering the church stopped before this altar, on which the civic authorities placed a silver lamp, weighing forty marks" [From 'Rouen : Its History & Monuments': http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18740/18740-h/18740-h.htm ]

Rouen, the pre-Roman historic port-city in Northern France, is on a meander of River Seine, is the capital of Haute-Normandie (Upper Normandy, one of the 26 Régions in France) , halfway between Channel Tunnel and Paris.

At the end of WW2, in connection with the Allied troops' Dday landing at Normandy, Rouen was severely hit by collateral damages due to bombing (against the German-occupied France) was aimed at the destruction of all the bridges on the Seine, but that hit too large a part of the town, mostly close to the river.. Including The Cathedrale Notre-Dame, Place du Vieux Marché etc... In many parts of the city, extensive restoration had to be done.

It was at Rouen, Joan of Arc was burnt alive. (Jeanne d'Arc, Born 1412, at Domremy in Champagne- Died 1431, at Rouen and later declared as the French National Heroine)
An uneducated peasant girl, she commanded the French Royal Army at the age of 17, after gaining approval of the Duke and Church scholars of Orleans that she had a call from The Saints to liberate her land from the English invaders and take the duke to the throne. She led the army, defeated the English and helped reinstate the French ruler in Orleans.

She was captured by the Burgundians (pro-English rival faction of the French Royal family) handed over to the English, was imprisoned and sentenced to be 'burnt at the stake' for heresy.

At Place du Vieux-Marché (The Old market place) where she's was executed, there is a large cross and a modern Church of St Joan of Arc (Eglise Sainte Jeanne d'Arc)

Cathédrale Notre-Dame, The Cross silhouette

Cathédrale Notre-Dame, Mass


Cathedral, Medieval Stained Glass Art



Cathedral, Prayer Candles

The highlight of the trip was the attempt to capture the amazing and very impressive late-night light-show at the Notre Dame Cathedral, "The Cathedral, from Monet to Pixels", in which the patterns/colours inspired from the Impressionist painter Claude Monet's series of paintings of the Cathedral's façade are projected onto the enormous façade.


Light show on the cathedral facade, "The Cathedral, from Monet to Pixels"

Cathedral, Gothic Patterns


@2am: Restaurant in Place du Vieux-Marché
Travels-Shop-Window : Lure of L'Inde

Haute Couture


Shop-Window: Square Deals !


SignPost by the River Seine : Whither you go from here ??....

**

The Virgin-and-Child photo is as is! (as captured by the camera,
Light conditions were good enough and frame simple, that
I could get the color-in-B/W effect I wanted, though I
wished for more light to fall on flowers for even
better contrast; being a holy place, didn't want to
touch/move it )

The place/Cathedral was a shutterbug's paradise-
to shoot it both Color n B/W!, more than enough to
quench the thirst for either.. and I don't feel that I
did justice to the possibilities and opportunity that
came my way.
Unfortunately, didn't have enough time and also
had to wait for the Sunday Mass to finish, to move
around.

The cathedral is really awe-inspiring ! For the
pious, I felt it would be instantly inspiring, the
moment one steps in.. You can feel it in the ambience.
May be it's the awe-inspiring structure, natural
lighting-and-acoustic effects and antiquity..

After the Mass dispersed and everything became quiet,
a very soft choir music was turned on in the
background.. with that added, walking on the side
aisles, with that soft sound reverberating with special acoustic effects of the tall church,
 it really struck a chord very deep, something
very evocative, much more than any church ambiance had
ever evoked.
Sad part was that, with so little time and so much
more to shoot became very hectic, couldn't sit and
savour it all as much as I wanted.

But ah well, life's like that :)
When you are in B/W mood, it might throw so much colour,
and when you are in colourful mood inside,
outside, it might make things look B/W, shades of
Gray. :)