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the Gros-Horloge itself, a giant Renaissance clock. In 1527 the Rouennais had a splendid arch built especially for it, and today its golden face looks out over the street. You can see the clock’s inner workings from the 15th-century belfry. Though the street is crammed with stores, a few old houses, dating from the 16th century, remain. Wander through the surroundingVieux Rouen (Old Rouen), a warren of tiny streets lined with more than 700 half-timber houses, many artfully transformed into fashionable shops. | Rue du Gros-Horloge, Vieux-Marché | 76000 | €6 | Apr.–Oct., Tues.–Sun. 10–7; Nov.–Mar., Tues.–Sun. 2–6.

Musée des Beaux-Arts (Fine Arts Museum).

One of Rouen’s cultural mainstays, this museum is famed for its scintillating collection of paintings and sculptures from the 16th to the 20th century, including works by native son Géricault as well as by David, Rubens, Caravaggio, Velasquez, Poussin, Delacroix, Chassériau, Degas, and Modigliani. Most popular of all, however, is the impressive Impressionist gallery, with Monet, Renoir, and Sisley, and the Postimpressionist School of Rouen headed by Albert Lebourg and Gustave Loiseau. | Square Verdrel, Gare | 76000 | 02–35–71–28–40 | www.rouen-musees.com | €5, €8 includes Musée Le Secq des Tournelles and Musée de la Céramique | Wed.–Mon. 10–6.

St-Maclou.

A late-Gothic masterpiece, this church sits across Rue de la République behind the cathedral and bears testimony to the wild excesses of Flamboyant architecture. Take time to examine the central and left-hand portals of the main facade, covered with little bronze lion heads and pagan engravings. Inside, note the 16th-century organ, with its Renaissance wood carving, and the fine marble columns. | Pl. St-Maclou, St-Maclou | 76000 | 02–32–08–32–40 | Mon.–Sat. 10–noon and 2–6, Sun. 3–5:30.

Tour Jeanne-d’Arc.

Sole remnant of the early-13th-century castle built by French king Philippe-Auguste, this beefy, pointed-top circular tower is a fine photo-op. Inside you’ll find a small exhibit of documents and models charting the history of the castle where Joan of Arc was tried and held prisoner in 1430. | Rue Bouvreuil, Gare | 76000 | 02–35–98–16–21 | €1.50 | Mon. and Wed.–Sat. 10–12:30 and 2–6, Sun. 2–6:30.

WORTH NOTING IN ROUEN

Aître St-Maclou.

A former ossuary (a charnel house used for the bodies of plague victims), this is a reminder of the plague that devastated Europe during the Middle Ages; these days it holds Rouen’s Fine Art Academy. French composer Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921) is said to have been inspired by the ossuary when he was working on hisDanse Macabre. The half-timber courtyard, where you can wander at leisure and maybe visit a picture exhibition, contains graphic carvings of skulls, bones, and grave diggers’ tools. | 186 rue Martainville, St-Maclou | 76000.

Église Jeanne d’Arc (Joan of Arc Church).

Dedicated to Joan of Arc, this church was built in the 1970s on the spot where she was burned to death in 1431. The aesthetic merit of its odd cement-and-wood design is debatable—the shape of the roof is supposed to evoke the flames of Joan’s fire. Not all is new, however: the church showcases some remarkable 16th-century stained-glass windows taken from the former Église St-Vincent, bombed out in 1944. The adjacent Musée Jeanne-d’Arc evokes Joan’s history with waxworks and documents. | 33 pl. du Vieux-Marché, Vieux-Marché | 76000 | 02–35–88–02–70 | www.jeanne-darc.com | Museum €4 | Museum mid-Apr.–mid-Sept., daily 9:30–7; mid-Sept.–mid-Apr., daily 10–noon and 2–6:30.

Musée de la Céramique (Ceramics Museum).

A superb array of local pottery and European porcelain can be admired at this museum, housed in an elegant mansion near the Musée des Beaux-Arts. | 1 rue Faucon, Gare | 76000 | 02–35–07–31–74 | €3, €8 includes Musée Le Secq des Tournelles and Musée des Beaux-Arts | Wed.–Mon. 10–1 and 2–6.

Musée des Antiquités.

Gallo-Roman glassware and mosaics, medieval tapestries and enamels, and Moorish ceramics vie for attention at this collection, an extensive antiquities museum housed in a former monastery dating