Rouen's imposing Musée des Beaux-Arts commands the square Verdrel from just east of the central rue Jeanne d'Arc (daily except Tues 10am–6pm; €3). Even this grand edifice is not quite large enough to display some of its medieval tapestries, which trail inelegantly along the floor, but the collection as a whole is consistently absorbing. Unexpected highlights include dazzling Russian icons from the sixteenth century onwards, and an entertaining three-dimensional eighteenth-century Nativity from Naples. Many of the biggest names among the painters – Caravaggio, Velázquez, Rubens – tend to be represented by a single minor work, but there are several Monets, including a Rouen Cathedral from 1894, and a Vue Générale de Rouen. The central sculpture court, roofed over but very light, is dominated by a wonderful three-part mural of the course of the Seine from Paris to Le Havre, prepared by Raoul Dufy in 1937 for the Palais de Chaillot in Paris.Rouen's history as a centre for faïencerie, or earthenware pottery, is recorded in the Musée de la Céramique, facing the Beaux-Arts from the north (daily except Tues 10am–1pm & 2–6pm; €2.30). A series of beautiful rooms, some of which incorporate sixteenth-century wood panelling rescued from a demolished nunnery of St-Amand, display specimens from the 1600s onwards. Assorted tiles and plates reflect the eighteenth-century craze for chinoiserie, although the genuine Chinese and Japanese pieces nearby possess a sophistication contemporary French craftsmen could only dream of emulating. The mood changes abruptly in the Revolutionary era, as witnessed by plates bearing slogans from both sides of the political fence. Behind the Beaux-Arts, housed in the old and barely altered church of St-Laurent on rue Jacques-Villon, the Musée Le Secq des Tournelles (daily except Tues 10am–1pm & 2–6pm; €2.30) consists of a brilliant collection of wrought-iron objects of all dates and descriptions, among them nutcrackers and door knockers, spiral staircases that lead nowhere and hideous implements of torture.
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