Roubaix

4049

Rouge

tures of interest are Boyman's Museum, hous-
ing a collection of Dutch and Flemish masters,
including Rembrandt, the brothers Maris,
Cuyp, Franz Hals, Ruysdael, Bols, Maes, and
Hobbema; the Groote Kerk, or Church of
St. Lawrence, consecrated in 1477 and re-
stored in 1912; the Old Town Hall, a seven-
teenth-century edifice; the Nautical Institute
and Museum, and the Ethnographical and
Maritime Museum. Rotterdam has a magni-
ficent harbor with extensive docks and har-
bor works, and because of its strategic loca-
tion commands not only a large maritime
trade but an extensive river commerce as
well. Grain, timber, metals, hardware, petro-
leum, drugs and chemicals, rice, coffee, to-
bacco and palm kernels are exported. Ship-
building is an important industry. The name
Rotterdam, which indicates that the town
pwes its origin to the building of a dyke or
flam in the Rotte, first occurs about 1280.
The 16th and i7th centuries were a period of
great prosperity. Many quays and docks
were constructed between 1850 and 1860; in
1863 the New Waterway through the Hook
of Holland was begun. Large areas of the
city were devastated by German air bombing
in 1940; p. 612,000.

Roubaix, France, is the foremost woolen
manufacturing town of France. The factories
turn out goods—both in cotton and silk, be-
sides wool—to the yearly value of over $80,-
000,000. During the War it was in the hands
of the Germans who pillaged the factories
and blew up the railway station before they
left, but since that time the town has made
great progress towards recovery of its former
prosperity; p. 117,209.

Roubiliac, Louis Francois (1695-1762),
French sculptor, was born in Lyons. He set-
tled in London about 1730 where his first
notable production was a statue of Handel
for Vauxhall Gardens (1738). Other well
known works include the statue of Shakes-
peare in the British Museum (1758), that of
Sir Isaac Newton at Cambridge (i7S5)> a
the Handel monument in Westminster Abbey.

Rouble, the Russian monetary unit, prop-
erly a gold or silver coin, now represented
chiefly by a paper token. It is divided into
a;oo kopecks.

Rouen, town, France, capital of the de-
partment of Seinc-Infeneure, on both banks
of the Seine. It is a railway center, the chief
cotton port of France, and the seat of an
archbishop. The streets of the old town are
narrow and picturesque, with timber-fronted

bouses, and ennobled by some of the most
beautiful churches in France. Chief of these
are the cathedral (i3th century onwards)
which once possessed the heart of Richard
Cceur dc Lion (now transferred to the mu-
seum of antiquities); St. Maclou (i5th cen-
tury) ; St. Ouen (i4th to I5th century), one
of the most delicate and graceful of ail Goth-
ic churches; and St. Gervais, one of the old-
est churches in France. The chief industry of
Rouen is its cotton manufacture. There are
also dyeworks, and manufactures of linen,
wool, silks. Rouen was the ancient capital of
Normandy. During the Great War it was a
camp for reinforcements and had several base
hospitals. Here Duke Rollo was buried, Wil-
liam the Conqueror died (1087), Joa*1 of
Arc was burned at the stake (1431), and
Lord Clarendon died (1674). It is also the
birthplace of La Salle (discoverer of the Mis-

Seated Pkyers

Rouge-et-Noir (Diagram of Half of
Table),

sissippi), Corneflle, and Gustave Flaubert:
p. 122,898.

Rouge, ferric oxide, FesOa, obtained by
in&ff sulphate of iron. It is $ fine, deep-