Amiens Cathedral

Amiens, the capital of Picardy, sits on the River Somme about 120 km north of Paris, and its cathedral stands on a slight rise above the river, visible for miles across the flat countryside. Notre-Dame d'Amiens is the largest cathedral in France by interior volume — around 200,000 cubic metres, more than twice that of Notre-Dame de Paris — and its vaults rise about 42 metres, higher than those of Chartres or Reims. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981 and is one of the defining buildings of High Gothic.

Most of it went up in only about fifty years after a fire destroyed the previous cathedral in 1218, which is why it looks so unified. Robert de Luzarches designed it and began in 1220, working, unusually, from the west end towards the east; Thomas de Cormont and his son Renaud followed. Robert's innovation was to use stone blocks cut to standard sizes, which sped the work. The cathedral had become rich from a relic acquired in 1206 — the reputed head of John the Baptist, brought from Constantinople — and pilgrims paid for much of it. Structural trouble came later: in 1498 the master mason Pierre Tarisel fitted a wrought-iron chain around the triforium, installed red-hot so that it tightened as it cooled, and it is still in place.

Start outside with the west front, built in a single campaign from 1220 to 1236: three deep portals, the Last Judgement in the centre, Saint Firmin on the left and the Virgin on the right, with rows of carved prophets, apostles and local saints. Inside, walk the 240-metre labyrinth set into the nave floor, a nineteenth-century copy of the 1288 original; then the richly carved choir stalls of 1508–1519, among the cathedral's greatest treasures; and, on the outer walls of the choir, the painted stone reliefs of the lives of Saint Firmin and John the Baptist from around 1490–1530. A restoration of the west front completed in 2001 revealed traces of medieval paint, and on summer evenings and around Christmas the Chroma light show projects those original colours back onto the portals.

Getting there

The cathedral is in the centre of Amiens, about 0.6 km from the city centre. The nearest airport is Beauvais-Tillé (BVA), 50.8 km away; many visitors instead fly into Paris and take the train from Paris Gare du Nord to Amiens, which takes a little over an hour.