Normandy, Brittany & the Best of the North_ With Paris (Fodor's) - Fodor's [73]
AMIENS
112 km (70 mi) northwest of Soissons via N31/D935, 58 km (36 mi) north of Beauvais via N1 or A16.
Although Amiens showcases some pretty brazen postwar reconstruction, epitomized by Auguste Perret’s 340-foot Tour Perret, a soaring concrete stump by the train station, the city is well worth exploring. It has lovely Art Deco buildings in its traffic-free city center, as well as elegant, older stone buildings like the 18th-century Beffroi (Belfry) and Neoclassical prefecture. Crowning the city is its great Gothic cathedral, which has survived the ages intact. Nearby is the waterfront quarter of St-Leu—with its small, colorful houses—rivaling the squares of Arras and streets of old Lille as the cutest city district north of Paris.
Getting Here and Around
Trains from Paris (Gare du Nord) leave for Amiens every hour or so (€19.40); the 129-km (80-mi) trip takes 1 hour, 5 minutes. There’s one direct train each day from Reims to Amiens (2 hrs, 30 mins; €22) via Laon; five trains daily connect Laon to Amiens (1 hr, 45 mins; €16.10). Buses run by the CAB’ARO line (03–44–48–08–47 | www.cabaro.info) run between Beauvais and Amiens (line 30E) six times daily (50 mi; 1 hr, 20 mins; €12).
Visitor Information
Amiens Tourist Office.
| 6 bis, rue Dusevel | 80000 | 03–22–71–60–50 | www.amiens-tourisme.com.
MEDIEVAL ARCHITECTURE’S BUILDING BLOCKS
Consider these architectural terms before passing through Amiens’s main medieval portal (front door):
CHANCEL: The space around the altar that’s off-limits to everyone but the clergy. It’s at the east end of the church and sometimes blocked off by a rail.
CHOIR: The section of the church set off to seat the choir. It’s in the chancel.
CLERESTORY: The upper part of the church walls, typically lined with windows (often the stained-glass variety) to bathe the nave with light.
CROCKET: Usually adorning a spire, pinnacle, or gable, this carved ornament often takes the form of foliage, such as acanthus leaves.
CRYPT: An underground chamber usually used as a burial site and often found directly below a church’s nave.
GABLE: The triangular upper portion of a wall comprising the area of a pitched roof.
NARTHEX: A hall leading from the main entrance to the nave.
NAVE: The main section of the church that stretches from the chancel to the main door. This is where worshippers sit during services.
PIER: As opposed to a column, this is a solid masonry support, ranging from a simple square shape to a compound pier often comprised of several distinct sub-shafts.
RIBBED VAULT: A distinct form of Gothic architecture made up of diagonal arches, called ribs, that spring from column to column to create an overhead framework. By transferring the weight of the building from the roof directly to the columns, they reduced the masonry needed for the exterior walls, enabling these to be filled with large (usually stained-glass) windows.
TRANSEPT: The part of the church that extends outward at a right angle from the main body, creating a cruciform (cross-shape) plan.
TYMPANUM: A recessed triangular or semicircular space above the portal, often decorated with sculpture.
EXPLORING AMIENS
By far the largest church in France, the Cathédrale Notre-Dame could enclose Paris’s Notre-Dame twice. It may lack the stained glass of Chartres or the sculpture of Reims, but for architectural harmony, engineering proficiency, and sheer size, it’s without peer. The soaring, asymmetrical facade has a notable Flamboyant Gothic rose window, and is brought to life on summer evenings when a sophisticated 45-minute light show re-creates its original color scheme. Inside, there’s no stylistic disunity to mar the perspective, creating an overwhelming sensation of pure space. Construction took place between 1220 and 1264, a remarkably short period in cathedral-building spans. One of the highlights of a visit here is hidden from the eye, at least until you lift up some of