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Origin and history

The Saint-Paul de Rouen church, located at the foot of Saint Catherine Hill near the Mathilde Bridge, is a neo-Roman monument dating back to the late 11th century. It was originally built as a parish church in the suburb of Eauplet, in close connection with the priory of Saint Paul, dependent on the abbey of Montivilliers. The remains of the ancient Romanesque church, now integrated as sacristy, have been classified as historical monuments since 1926. The present building, rebuilt between 1827 and 1829 by Charles-Félix Maillet du Boullay, has a neo-Roman style, completed later by two bell towers added between 1890 and 1894.

The history of the church is marked by repeated destruction: razed during the English siege of Rouen (1418-1419), it was raised in 1438 before being devastated by the Huguenots in 1562. In the 17th century, the site reached a turning point when François Harlay de Champvallon, archbishop of Rouen, ordered in 1650 the departure of Benedictine nuns to establish a recreational area. The church, which was closed during the Revolution (1793), reopened in 1802 before being radically redesigned in the 19th century. Disused since 2017, she preserves the memory of Father Jacques Hamel, a choir child on the scene from 1936 to 1944, before her martyrdom in 2016.

The water sources discovered on the site in the sixteenth century, first exploited by the nuns, were then rented to private individuals. The buildings of the priory, transformed into houses or workshops after the Revolution, now house a home for young workers. The construction of the Mathilde Bridge and the nearby interchange isolated the church from the city centre, sealing its destiny as a monument closed to the public but charged with history.

The only part classified as Romanesque, L-abside, bears witness to the original architecture. The successive transformations — neo-Roman reconstruction, the addition of bell towers, the decommissioning — reflect the religious, political and urban upheavals of Rouen. The site, although closed, remains a symbol of the Rouen heritage, between Benedictine memory and urban change.

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