Photo spot in Rouen
Place du Vieux-Marché
The square where Joan of Arc was burned in 1431, now half medieval timber and half a modern church with a roof like an upturned boat.
About Place du Vieux-Marché
Get directionsThe Vieux-Marché is Rouen's other great square and its strangest one. Three sides are the timber-framed city you expect; the fourth is the church of Sainte-Jeanne-d'Arc, finished in 1979, a low sweep of slate scales that curves over the square and the covered market beside it.
The clash is the picture. Photograph the timber frontages with the roof cutting across the background, or work close to the church, whose long wall of sixteenth-century stained glass — saved from a parish destroyed in the war — glows when the light is behind it. A cross marks the place where Joan of Arc died.
Restaurant terraces fill the middle of the square from noon, so mornings are cleaner. The square is a few minutes west of the Gros-Horloge and makes the natural end of a walk through the old town before it drops down to the Seine quays, which give a wider, more modern frame.
Best time to shoot
Morning, before the restaurant terraces take the middle of the square
Tips
It is a memorial site as well as a square, so keep it respectful around the cross. The church has its own visiting hours and closes for services, which are worth checking.
Other spots in Rouen
The cathedral façade
The west front Monet painted more than thirty times: two mismatched towers, a wall of carved stone, and the tallest church spire in France above it.
Rue du Gros-Horloge
A pedestrian street of leaning half-timbered houses running under a Renaissance arch that carries a single gilded clock face.
The Aître Saint-Maclou
A courtyard of timber galleries built around a plague cemetery, with skulls, spades and dancing skeletons carved into the oak posts.
Ready to book?
Our concierge team will hand-pick 2-3 photographers who know Place du Vieux-Marché — free of charge.