A courtyard of carved wooden galleries built over a plague pit — one of the most unusual and atmospheric places in Rouen, and free to wander.
The Aître Saint-Maclou was built after the great waves of the Black Death that struck Rouen from 1348 onwards, when the city's graveyards could no longer cope. It became a mass burial ground, ringed by timber galleries used as a charnel house — an ossuary where bones were stored once graves were reused.
Look closely at the dark oak beams and columns: they are carved with a danse macabre of skulls, crossed bones, gravediggers' tools, hourglasses and coffins — a vivid memento mori from the 16th century. It is this carved woodwork, rare and beautifully preserved, that makes the Aître unique.
Long after burials stopped, the courtyard found new lives — as a boys' school, then the city's School of Fine Arts. Restored and reopened in 2020, it now houses art and craft galleries around its serene central courtyard.
Access to the courtyard is normally free. It sits just behind the flamboyant Gothic church of Saint-Maclou, in the medieval quarter between the cathedral and the river — easy to fold into a walk through the old town. See more in our guide to things to do in Rouen.