Page 50 - DK Eyewitness Travel Guides - The World's Must-See Places

Amiens Cathedral
48 EUROPE

A masterpiece of engineering and Gothic architecture
(Gothic Style, see p54) carried to a bold extreme, Amiens'
GERMANY
Notre-Dame Cathedral is also the largest cathedral in France.
Building work started around 1220 and took just 50 years,
FRANCE financed by profits from the cultivation of woad, a plant
BAY OF valued for its blue dye. Built to house the head of St. John
BISCAY • Bordeaux ITALY
the Baptist brought back from the Crusades, which is still
Marseille•
on display, the cathedral became a magnet for pilgrims.
ME DITE Fi.fi.AN£AN
SPAIN SEA After restoration by the architect Viollet-le-Duc in the mid-
19th century, and miraculously surviving two world wars,
the cathedral is famous for its wealth of statues and reliefs.
GOlHIC ORNAMENTAnON
A Weeping Angel
Like all Gothic churches, Am iens Cathedral is Sculpted by Nicolas Bias set in
richly decorated. Sculpture served to detract 1628. this sentimental statue in
attention from structural features, making a the ambulatory became a popular KEY DATES
image during World War I.
virtue out of a necessity, as with grotesque 1220 1279 1849 1981
gargoyles that disguise waterspouts, or natural
Bishop ~vrard de The relics of St. Restoration of the Amiens Cathedral
forms decorating columns. Even where the Fouilly begins work Firmin and St. Ulphe cathedral takes place joins the list of
carvings would not be seen at close hand, they on the foundations are presented, under the direction UN~SCOWorld
were still produced with tremendous skill and of the cathedraL attended by the of the architect Her~age Sites.
kings of France Viollet -le-Due.
care. Amiens' choir stalls alone are decorated and ~ngland.
with more than 4,000 wooden carvings of
figures, many representing local trades of the
day, residents of Ami ens and biblical figures. ~ Rose Window
VIOLLET-LE -DUC
The renowned architect and theorist Eugene
Emmanuel Viol let-le-Duc ( 1814-79) worked on
the restoration of the cathedral in the 1850s.
Trained in both architecture and medieval
archeology, he was a leading figure in France's ~ Choir Screens
Vivid scenes from the lives of St. Firmin
Commission for Historical Monuments, which and St. John, ca IVed in the 1 5th-16th
undertook early restoration work on many centuries, adorn the walkway.
architectural landmarks, including Notre-Dame
in Paris. Today, he is best known for his
encyclopedic writings on French architecture
and design, especially the Analytical Dictionary
of French Architecture from the 11th-16th
Centuries ( 18 54-68)
A Towers
Two towers of unequal height frame
BUILDING AMI ENS CATHEDRAL the cathedral's west front. The south
tower was completed in 1366, the
The cathedral was designed by the French north in 1402. The spire was replaced
architect Robert de Luzarches, and inspired by twice. in 1627 and 1887.
the Gothic cathedral at Reims, France. Work
began in 1220 and by 1236, the fa<;ade, Rose ~ Choir Stalls
Window, and portals were complete. By this
stage, the architect Thomas de Cormont had
taken over from de Luzarches, who had died
prematurely in about 1222. De Cormont
directed the building of the choir and apse.
The cathedral was finished by 1270 and this
speed of execution perhaps explains the
building's coherence and purity of style.
Research has shown that the figures on the
beautiful west portal would originally have
been brightly painted. Modern laser
technology has enabled experts to assess the
original coloring of the sculptures, and a light
show is put on periodically to illuminate the The King's Gallery, a row of 22 colossal statues
portal, re-creating how it would have looked representing the kings of France, spans the west front.
They are also thought to symbolize the kings of Judah.
over 700 years ago.