Amiens Cathedral

The biggest church in France, Amiens Cathedral, was built between 1220 and 1270. The surface area is 7,700 square meters and 126 pillars support its space. As one of the oldest French Gothic buildings, it locates in Amiens beside River Somme and about 120 kilometres north of Paris.

The Exterior

Amiens Cathedral’s doors of the central portal are divided by a trumeau with a statue of the Christ. They are flanked on both sides with images of the apostles. When people lookup in front of the portal, they will see numerous angles, martyrs, and virgins with the Tree of Jesse forming the outer ring. Above the portals, a gallery and a row of 22 oversized statues of kings are illustrated. Furthermore, the chevet of Amiens Cathedral displays standard Gothic characteristics including flying buttresses. By the way, the original facades were full of colours and we can see that again by modern technology.

The Interior

There are also numerous interior decorations in Amiens Cathedral. The great collection of statues at Amiens would later be known as “the Bible of Amiens”. For example, the baroque pulpit, made of marble and gilded wood. It is hold by the three allegorical female figures, apparently representing Faith, Hope and Charity, the three Theological Virtues. Furthermore, a large amount of survived stained glasses are also rare after frequent wars.

For architecture itself, the enormous size of the building will impress the visitor immediately. People normally walk into the church by side aisles, which are at a height of 20 m almost double that of Notre Dame in Paris. Nevertheless, the pillars still seem to rise more and more. Afterward, most of the glass in the nave is clear which allowing the church to be flooded by natural light.

References

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Amiens_Cathedral%2C_1903.jpg https://i1.wp.com/frenchmoments.eu/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Amiens-Cathedral-©-Thierry80-licence-CC-BY-SA-4.0-from-Wikimedia-Commons.jpg?fit=1500%2C997&ssl=1 https://www.european-traveler.com/france/visit-amiens-cathedral-largest-gothic-church-france/ https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Amiens_cathedral_illuminated.JPG https://frenchmoments.eu/amiens-cathedral/ https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/0_Amiens_-Cath%C3%A9drale_Notre-Dame%281%29.JPG