Abbey of St. Ouen
| Saint-Ouen Abbey Church | |
|---|---|
| Saint-Owen Abbey Church | |
| Abbatiale Saint-Ouen | |
The Abbey Church
as seen from the Great Clock |
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 Saint-Ouen Abbey Church
Location of Saint-Ouen
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| 49°26′33″N 1°05′59″E / 49.44250°N 1.09972°ECoordinates: 49°26′33″N 1°05′59″E / 49.44250°N 1.09972°E | |
| Location | City Hall Square, Rouen, Normandy |
| Country | France |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Website | rouen |
| History | |
| Founded | 750 |
| Dedication | Saint-Ouen |
| Dedicated | 17 October 1126 |
| Relics held | Saint-Ouen |
| Architecture | |
| Status | Abbey Church |
| Functional status | Defunct |
| Heritage designation | Classée Monument Historique |
| Designated | 1840 |
| Architectural type | church |
| Style | Gothic, Flamboyant |
| Groundbreaking | 1318 |
| Completed | 1537 |
| Specifications | |
| Number of towers | 3 |
| Bells | 3 bells : "Saint-Ouen", 4 tons (1701); "Marie", 3 tons (1651); "Julie Marcelle", 2135kg (1887) |
| Administration | |
| Archdiocese | Rouen |
| Clergy | |
| Archbishop | Dominique Lebrun |
| Laity | |
| Organist/Director of music | Marie-Andrée Morisset-Balier |
| Organist(s) | Jean-Baptiste Monnot |
| Building details | |
| General information | |
| Location | Rouen, Normandy |
| Height | |
| Antenna spire | 82m |
Saint-Ouen Abbey Church, also referred in English as Saint-Owen Abbey Church (French: Abbatiale Saint-Ouen), is a large Gothic Roman Catholic church in Rouen, Normandy, France. The abbey is famous for both its architecture and its large, unaltered Cavaillé-Coll organ, which has once been described as "a Michelangelo of an organ" by Charles-Marie Widor. Built on a similar scale to nearby Rouen Cathedral, it is, along with the Church of Saint-Maclou, one of the principal Gothic monuments of Rouen.
The church was originally built as the abbey church of Saint Ouen for the Benedictine Order, beginning in 1318 and interrupted by the Hundred Years' War and sacked and badly damaged during the Harelle. It was completed in the 15th century in the Flamboyant style.
The foundation of St. Ouen's Abbey has been variously credited, among others, to Clothair I and to St. Clothilda, but evidence is scanty. It was dedicated at first to St. Peter when the body of St. Ouen, Archbishop of Rouen (d. 678), was buried there; the name of St. Peter and St. Ouen became common and finally St. Ouen only. The history of the abbey, on record from the 1000, is unremarkable; a list of abbots is in Gallia Christiana XI, 140. In 1660 the monastery was united to the Congregation of St. Maur, and when suppressed, in 1794, the community numbered twenty-four. The abbey building itself was vacated by the time of the French Revolution and was subsequently occupied by the Town Hall of Rouen.
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