Place du Vieux-Marché, Central square in Rouen, France.
Place du Vieux-Marché is a paved square on the right bank of Rouen, reached by the Rue du Gros-Horloge. Its sides are lined with half-timbered houses of brown, red and cream, many of them old facades re-erected in the 1970s. At the centre stands Louis Arretche's Sainte-Jeanne-d'Arc church, opened in 1979, whose slate roof is shaped like a Viking ship and a fish.
Joan of Arc was burned alive here on 30 May 1431, on the site of public executions that included a pillory and a fire wall. Excavations between 1970 and 1976 uncovered these remains along with the foundations of the church of Saint-Sauveur, destroyed in 1794–1795. A cross was erected near the stake as stipulated in the 1456 rehabilitation trial, and the church of Sainte-Jeanne-d'Arc was inaugurated on 27 May 1979 by President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.
The square's name comes from the market held here since the Middle Ages; a small market still runs under the slate-roofed hall, whose steep timber frame is meant to suggest ocean waves. The church of Sainte-Jeanne-d'Arc, inaugurated on 27 May 1979 by President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, reuses thirteen 16th-century stained-glass windows from the destroyed church of Saint-Vincent. Since 1935 the square has hosted the Fête du ventre, founded by Lucien Dorin, owner of the restaurant La Couronne at no. 31.
The square is easily walkable and offers plenty of seating to rest, with restrooms located nearby for visitor convenience. The area has many dining options to choose from, and the market operates on different days depending on the week.
The square's name comes from the wholesale market that operated here until 1969, when it moved to the MIN on Rouen's outskirts. The present hall, rebuilt after the old metal halls were demolished in 1973, has a steep timber roof covered in slate like the neighbouring church. The 13 choir windows of the 16th-century church Saint-Vincent, destroyed in 1944, were kept through the war and set into Louis Arretche's church.
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