Place+Du+Viuex-Marche

=Place Du Vieux-Marche=

Paige Bjerke - France
Place Du Vieux –Marche is located in Rouen France. It is the name of a street as well as a famous area for modern and historical reasons. Historically its most infamous event was the death of Joan of Arc. In modern times it is still a tourist attraction as the location of her death but is used as a market place for tourists and locals alike. Translated Place du Vieux-Marche means the old market.

Joan of Arc was a young woman who believed she heard the voice of God telling her she needed to fight for her people and protect them. She convinced Charles the Vll to let her lead a troop in the 100 year war and promised that it would bring him the crown. Though she had much success and gained respect amongst her followers she was eventually captured by the English. During this time the English had control over Rouen, they held her captive for a year. During that time she had a five month trial with over 70 charges including, heresy, witchcraft and dressing like a man. She was eventually sentenced to death. On May 30th, 1431 she was burned at the stake, at the age of nineteen, in Rouen where the Vieux-Marche now stands. There is a cross, bell and Joan of Arc Church in the area that is visited by thousands every year. Twenty-five years after her death, the pope reopened her trial and declared her innocent. In 1920 the Roman Catholic Church made her a saint which a big part of why she is still such an important person in history.

Place du Viuex-Marche was a theatre until 1944 when it was bombed during the World War ll. It was replaced by the modern buildings and with the half-timbered façade area to look like the seventeenth century in 1960. A church Saint-Jeanne-D’Arc (Saint Joan of Arc) was built in 1979. Currently it functions as a market for tourists and locals. It is like a combination of a flea market a farmers market and small shops. It is put together in a way that it feels like you are entering an old town full of market fresh foods and home-made goods. It is a great location to visit to try the food of the French people and feel what it may have been like to walk the streets of Rouen in the 1700s.