'The choir, separated from the nave by a modern Grecian screen, was
built in the thirteenth century, the carving of the stalls is extremely
curious. The elaborately carved screen in front of the sacristy was
executed in the latter part of the fifteenth century, and its
wrought-iron door must not be passed unnoticed.'[45]

The Church of St. Ouen 'surpasses the cathedral in size, purity of
style, masterly execution, and splendid, but judicious decoration, and
is inferior only in its historic monuments. It is one of the noblest and
most perfect Gothic edifices in the world.' Thus it has been described
again and again; suffice it for us to mention a few details of its
construction. It is said that the abbey of St. Ouen was orginally built
in 533, in the reign of Clothaire I., and then dedicated to St. Peter.
Through various changes of construction and destruction, it holds a
prominent part in the history of the time of the Conqueror and the Dukes
of Normandy; and it was not for a thousand years after its foundation
that the present building was completed. 'During the troubles of the
times of the Huguenots in the sixteenth century, it suffered greatly,
especially in 1562, when the fanatics lighted bonfires inside, and burnt
the organ, stalls, pulpit, and vestments.' Again at the end of the
eighteenth century, 'the building was exposed to the fury of the
Revolutionists, when it was used as a manufactory of arms; a forge being
erected within it and the painted windows so blackened as to become
indecipherable; and later still, 'in the time of Napoleon I., a project
was laid before him, by the municipality of Rouen, for destroying the
church altogether!'

Perhaps there is no monument that we could point to in Europe which has
a more eventful history, or which, after a lapse of thirteen hundred
years, presents to the spectator, in the year 1869, a grander spectacle.