Le Gros-Horloge

Updated April 16, 2024

Rue du Gros Horloge (Rouen): visite + photos

## Le Gros-Horloge (Rouen): the Renaissance archway with a working civic clock

Le Gros-Horloge is a Renaissance structure that spans Rue du Gros-Horloge in Rouen (Normandy) via a lowered arch. It’s attached to a Gothic belfry that has housed the city’s civic bells and clock since its late-14th-century construction, and the site is classified as a historic monument.

Your provided details place it at Rue du Gros Horloge, 76000 Rouen, France, with coordinates 49.4415056, 1.0912359, and a 4.6 rating (as supplied in your dataset).

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## What you’re seeing from the street (the details that explain the monument)

### A Renaissance arch + two clock faces
The city of Rouen describes Le Gros-Horloge as a Renaissance pavilion that crosses the street on a lowered arch, with two Renaissance clock faces (one on each side).

### A single hand tells the hour
On those clock faces, a single hand indicates the hour—a defining feature that’s explicitly noted in Rouen’s official description.

### A day-of-week figure appears beneath “VI”
Under the Roman numeral VI, a divinity associated with the day of the week appears on a triumphal chariot (Rouen’s English-language page calls this out directly).

### A globe indicates lunar phases
Above the dial, Rouen states that a globe indicates the phases of the moon.

### Wool trade symbolism: sheep motifs + Rouen’s lamb emblem
Rouen’s official page notes sheep motifs recalling the importance of wool work, and identifies the Paschal lamb (shown at the center of the arcade) as symbolizing the city’s arms.

### The Louis XV fountain: Alphée and Aréthuse
The same official source says a Louis XV fountain completes the ensemble, celebrating the loves of the river god Alphée and the nymph Aréthuse.

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## The short history you can cite confidently

Rouen’s published educational material states:
– The current belfry was built between 1389 and 1398, replacing an earlier belfry from the first half of the 13th century.
– In 1410, a timber-framed pavilion was added (later rebuilt).

That sequence—civic belfry first, then the street-spanning pavilion, then the clock’s later visible presentation—matches what you can observe today: the tower as the functional core, and the archway as the public-facing statement of time.

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## Visiting inside: what the official route includes

Rouen’s official tourism page describes an interior visitor route that:
– Takes you into the pavilion to access the dial room
– Brings you into the belfry to see the 14th-century mechanism, the first municipal bells, and a panoramic view over the city

A separate listing from Métropole Rouen Normandie similarly describes moving from the dial room to former “governor” apartments, then entering the belfry that contains older civic bells and the clock mechanism dating to the 14th century. Rouen Normandie

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## Hours and tickets (with an explicit “outdated data” flag)

### Opening hours (as published by Rouen Tourism)
Rouen Tourism lists two seasonal schedules:

– High season (Apr 1–Sep 30): Tue–Sun 10:00–13:00 (last entry 12:00) and 14:00–19:00 (last entry 18:00)
– Low season (Oct 1–Mar 31): Tue/Thu/Fri/Sat/Sun 14:00–18:00 (last entry 17:00)

### Ticket prices (published as “from” rates)
Rouen Tourism lists:
– Adult: from €7.70
– Child / student / reduced: from €3.90

Outdated-data flag: Rouen Tourism explicitly states these prices are based on the previous year’s rates, which means the exact amounts can change.

If you want to be maximally precise in your post, you can keep the “from” language and add a one-sentence note that on-site pricing may differ because the published prices are based on last year.

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## Practical planning (sticking to what’s documented)

– If you’re planning to enter, use the last-entry times published by Rouen Tourism (12:00 / 18:00 in high season; 17:00 in low season).
– If you need accommodations for how information is delivered on-site, Rouen notes that paper versions of the audio-guide texts (child and adult) can be provided on request (useful for visitors who prefer text).

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## Two contextual internal link placements (only if you already have these pages)
I can’t verify your site’s existing Rouen cluster URLs, so here are two safe placements you can convert into internal links without asserting pages exist:

1) Link the first mention of “Rouen (Normandy)” to your Rouen city guide / Rouen travel hub page.
2) In the “plan your visit” section, link “self-guided walking route in Rouen’s historic center” to your Rouen walking route / old town itinerary page.

(If you paste your preferred slugs, I’ll drop them in as clean Markdown links.)

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## CMS-ready recap (from your provided fields)
– post_title: Le Gros-Horloge
– post_name: le-gros-horloge
– location/address: Rue du Gros Horloge, 76000 Rouen, France
– coordinates: 49.4415056, 1.0912359
– rating (provided): 4.6
– location_type: Tourist attraction

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