Rouen (canton of Rouen, Seine-Maritime) Church of Saint-Paul

    The former priory church of Saint-Paul, built in c. 1070, was a dependency of the abbey of Montivilliers, until 1650, when it became a parish church. The church was significantly altered in the 17th century, before being re-built in the neo-Romanesque style two centuries later.
Of the original edifice, only the choir remains, transformed into a sacristy. The latter consisted of a right bay extended by an apse and two side aisles, each giving onto an apsidiole. The side walls of the choir are ornamented by high blind arcatures, and the apse presents low arches. The whole dates from the end of the 11th century, although in c. 1125-1130, the right bay of the choir was covered by a four-part vault on a ribbed vault, the oldest of its kind in Haute-Normandie. A capital representing the Adoration of the Magi dates from the same period as the crossing of ogives.

Bibliography

- Congrès archéologique de France, LXXXIXe session tenue à Rouen en 1926, Société Française d’Archéologie, Paris, 1926, 1927, p. 142 à 152.
- Musset, Lucien. – Normandie romane, Zodiaque, La Pierre-Qui-Vire, 1984, 2 vol., T. II, p. 31-32.
- Baylé, Maylis (dir.). – L’architecture normande au Moyen-Age, éditions Charles Corlet, Condé-sur-Noireau, Presses universitaires de Caen, Caen, 1997, 2 vol., T. II, p. 112-113.