08 November 2021

Stained glass at the Église Ste-Jeanne-d'Arc in Rouen

I believe that these are the only photos I have ever taken of the stained-glass windows in the Église Sainte-Jeanne-d'Arc in Rouen. The church was built in the 1970s, when I spent a lot of time in Rouen, so I must have seen it when it was under construction — but I don't remember it much. The stained-glass window panels installed in Saint-Jeanne-d'Arc had been taken down out of their frames in a nearby Renaissance-era church at the begining of the Second World War and hidden away for safe-keeping.

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The old church, Saint-Vincent, ended up being destroyed by Allied bombings in 1944, so only these window panels survived. They were mounted in window frames in the new church so they could be admired by the public. They weren't easy to photograph successfully in 1999 when I was there. The church was only 20 years old then.

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The photos above show how the windows are displayed in the new church. Lean back from your monitor
or hold your tablet at arms' length to get an idea of how you would see them in the church.
The image below might give you an idea of what the glass looks like up close.

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11 comments:

  1. When you enter this church these magnificent stained-glass windows is the first thing you see, displayed side-by-side. It’s a wall of colored light. It is very impressive. In their original setting, they were probably dispayed away from each other in separate chapels. My guess is that the architect built this church around these priceless stained-glass windows and as a show case for them.

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    1. It may well be that building the new church was partly a way to display those old windows, which I assume must have been in storage for decades. I think the place du Vieux-Marché was such a mess in the 1970s that people didn't go there much until it was done.

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  2. Amazing to realize that this church would have only been 2 years old when I saw it in '81, then!

    Ken, here is that Rouen episode of Chasseurs d'Appart: Chasseurs d'Appart 2019 Rouen ... let's see if I posted the link correctly.

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    1. Ken, it looks like you'll have to back it up a teeny bit -- or, let's try this one: Chasseurs d'Appart Rouen 2019

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    1. Thanks Judy, but it doesn't work. I just get a message saying the video is not available in my country because of copyright issues. very strange.

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    2. Ahhhh, I guess it's just viewable outside of France.
      If you can find replays of Chasseurs d'Appart, it's the 16-05-19 episode, episode 4, jeudi.
      I see that https://www.6play.fr/ has some reruns of this show, but I doubt that they'd have this one. Maybe a Youtube search from your end, will come up with that episode (or, it might not be allowed on Youtube over there, probably.)

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    3. À mon avis, c’est plutôt décevant. On ne voit de Rouen que des “flashs” très rapides. On voit surtout des agents immobiliers, des bonshommes et des bonnes femmes dans l’exercice de leurs fonctions. Je crois, Ken, que tu ne perds pas grand chose de ne pas pouvoir le voir. De plus, ça n’en finit pas!

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    4. En fait, j'ai pu le regarder. C'était intéressant. Les agents immobiliers, eux aussi, parlent français, comme leurs clients.

      Merci, Judy. J'ai ouvert mon blog avec Opera, qui me donne un VPN gratuit me permettant de masquer mon pays de résidence. Je t'ai laissé un commentaire en utilisant Opera pour te le dire, mais le commentaire a disparu. Qui sait pourquoi...

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    5. CHM, on regarde ce genre d'émissions, nous autres anglophones, pour deux raisons. Primo, pour écouter du francais parlé authenique, actuel, et naturel. Secondo, pour voir les intérieurs de maisons et d'appartements en France qu'on n'a pas l'occasion de voir autrement. Ne m'as-tu pas dit un jour que tu regardais les soap operas (quelle horreur!) à la télévision au début quand tu es arrivé en Virginie pour améliorer ton anglais?

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  4. That church is a marvel. So glad I saw it once.

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