We had never been to the abbey church of St. Ouen in previous visits to Rouen. It's a few blocks off the beaten path and presumably not high on the tourist itinerary. Besides, purist that I am, I would not normally have been attracted to yet another 14th century flamboyant. Would I have been wrong!
Although "only" an abbey church, St. Ouen is a particularly fine example of the theology/architecture of height and light. "God is light." Although not as high as, for example, Amiens, St. Ouen has far more light than any Gothic we have seen. A variety of features come together to emphasize the light. One is the white limestone material throughout. Another is the austerity, the relative lack of ornamentation inside. Most important, however, are the windows. St. Ouen realizes the Gothic ideal of maximizing glass. There are more than 4,300 square meters of glass. All of this 14th century original glass was removed prior to WWII and is back in place now. The triforium is glazed, and therefore the walls are glass nearly from the ground all the way to the roof. The windows themselves are huge and are only partially stained/painted, contributing again to maximizing the light, at least as compared with the high Gothics.
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St. Ouen abbiale church; the abbey is gone; the building next door is Rouen's
Hotel de Ville |
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| South side view |
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| Looking up toward the central tower |
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| South-side nave; note the windows, floor to ceiling |
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| Remains of cloister, north-side |
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| Relatively minor sculpture...austerity...here the south door tympanum |
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| Nave view |
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| Nave view closer in |
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| Elevation...windows, windows, windows |
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| Standard 4-part ribbed ceiling in nave |
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| Crossing |
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| Stern and organ and rose window |
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| Transept |
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| Other transept |
