France Guide
Normandy
Musée de la Céramique
Opening time: Daily except Tues 10am–1pm & 2–6pm
Price: €2.50
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. 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.