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Origin and history

The Saint-Godard church, located in the Old Market district of Rouen, finds its origins in late antiquity. It served as a burial place for the holy bishops Godard (buried in 525) and Roman (buried in 644), the latter being initially the probable patron of the building. His body was transferred around 1090 to the cathedral, leaving only his sarcophagus, preserved until the 19th century. During the reign of Saint Louis, the church was integrated into the urban enclosure of Rouen, but a fire ravaged it in 1248, requiring reconstruction and expansion.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, Saint-Godard became the parish church of the inhabitants of the Château de Rouen, a privileged place of worship for the captains and their families. The gate of the building still bears the coat of arms of the Brézé family, three of which were captains of the castle between 1449 and 1531. The church then experienced several major construction phases: the nave was erected in the second half of the 15th century, followed by the North (1527) and South (1534) collaterals, then the crypt stairs and the doorway on Belfroi Street (1537). In 1562 she suffered damage during Calvinist disturbances.

The transformations continued in the 17th and 18th centuries, with the addition of an unfinished log tower (1612), the enlargement of the sacristy (1654), and structural changes between 1755 and 1757 to harmonize roofs. The French Revolution was almost fatal: closed and threatened with destruction, it was saved in 1806 thanks to Abbé Chefdeville, who obtained its reopening as a branch of Saint-Patrice. It became parish again in 1829. In the 19th century, major restorations concerned stained glass (1852, 1867) and organs, with the installation in 1884-1885 of two instruments signed Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, still in place today.

The twenty-four stained glass windows of Saint-Godard range from the 16th to the 19th century. Four of them, dating from the Renaissance, are particularly remarkable: the Life of Mary, the Life of Saint Roman, the Evangelical Apparitions and the Tree of Jesse (1506, attributed to Arnoult of Nijmegen). These works, disassembled several times to protect them (1918, 1939), were restored in the 20th century. The chapel of the Virgin also houses a white marble cenotaph (17th century) of the lords of Becdelièvre, witness to the generosity of the local noble families.

Classified as a historical monument in 1862, the church illustrates the architectural and artistic evolution of Rouen, from medieval origins to modern embellishments. Its exceptional acoustics today make it a popular concert venue, while its 16th century crypt, vaulted on a cross of warheads, recalls its past as an episcopal necropolis. The successive restorations, notably those of the stained glass windows by Jean-Jacques Grüber after 1945, preserved this unique heritage in Normandy.

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