Very often mistaken for a cathedral with its extraordinary dimensions of over 130 metres long and 33 metres high, the Saint-Ouen abbey was founded around the year 750 on the site of a large Romanesque church destroyed by fire. Although its construction was spread over more than two centuries, the building presents a remarkable radiant Gothic unity that the successive builders were able to perpetuate by remaining faithful to the original project.

Today surrounded by the former convent gardens, this religious building, once one of the most powerful Benedictine monasteries in Normandy, greets any interested visitor in an equally successful and preserved interior. Once you have entered the building through its central portal where the statue of Saint-Ouen, the patron saint of the place, sits enthroned, the exceptional side of the architecture is immediately revealed.

This includes the sublime, perfectly preserved medieval oak frame, and the way the walls disappear to reveal this authentic series of 80 stained glass windows that instantly flood the entire space with light. It should also be noted that the great organ that marks the end of the nave is one of the most recorded in the world.
So many criteria that make us want to get to know this emblem of Rouen better, classified as a historical monument since 1840 and very soon restored to a new splendor worthy of its early days.