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Origin and history

The aître Saint-Maclou, located in Rouen, is an ancient 14th century ossuary, enlarged in the 16th century to meet the needs created by plague outbreaks. Its name comes from the term aitre (cimetery in old French) and the nearby parish of Saint-Maclou. The site, originally a cemetery created after the black plague of 1348, was mentioned as early as 1362. Faced with a new epidemic in the 16th century, the parish decided to set up galleries to store the exhumed bones, thus freeing up space. The works began in 1526 under the direction of Guillaume Rybert, with the construction of the galleries west, north and east, completed between 1529 and 1533. The sculptures of the columns, inspired by the Renaissance, combine biblical scenes with macabre motifs.

In 1562, the statuettes of the columns were damaged during the Wars of Religion. The south gallery, added only in 1651 thanks to a legacy of Father Robert Duchesne, houses a school for poor boys. The Saint-Michel Chapel was erected in 1658, and schools for boys (1661) and girls (1678) settled there. In 1705, the bones of the attic were removed, and the galleries were raised between 1745 and 1749 to create a floor. The cemetery, closed in 1781 after a royal ordinance, became a spinning workshop in 1768, then a weapons factory under the Terror (1793).

In the 19th century, the site had several assignments: Norman Art Museum (1938), Fine Arts School (from 1940), and boarding school for girls in 1911. Ranked as a historic monument in 1862, it was restored between 1999 and 2002, and then underwent major renovation from 2018, for a cost of 14 million euros, supported by the Normandy Region and the State. The archaeological excavations of 2016-17 reveal numerous skeletons, testimonies of his funeral past.

Architecturally, it forms a quadrilateral of 32 meters wide by 48 long, with three wooden galleries on stone base (XVI century) and a more sober south gallery (XVII century). The carved decorations, typical of the first Renaissance, represent macabre dances, biblical scenes (such as Adam and Eve) and floral motifs. Sandpipes and potholes feature macabre symbols (sterns, tibias) and fossil tools. The open West Gallery still links Martainville Street to Géricault Street.

The Saint-Maclou building illustrates the evolution of medieval funeral practices, marked by epidemics and space needs. Its history also reflects the urban changes in Rouen, moving from a sacred place to an educational, industrial and then cultural space. Today, there remains a unique testimony of the European ossuary, where art, history and collective memory combine.

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