Amiens Cathedral

Amiens Cathedral, in the heart of Picardy, is one of the largest classic 13th-century Gothic churches. It is notable for the coherence of its plan, the beauty of its three-tier interior elevation,and the particularly fine display of sculptures on the principal facade and in the south transept.
Amiens was once a place of great strength, and still possessed a late 16th-century citadel, but theramparts that surrounded it have been replaced by boulevards, bordered by handsome residences. The older and more picturesque quarter is situated directly on the Somme; its narrow and irregular streetsare intersected by the eleven arms of the river and it is skirted on the north by the canal derived there from.
In the 13th century, motivated by the faith of their inhabitants, cities competed tobuild the most magnificent religious buildings. Thanks to technical progress, the experience gained from other building sites and the speed at which it was constructed, Notre-Dame of Amiens has a veryrare uniform style. The height of the ceiling is about 42.3 m (compared with c. 37 m at Chartres and c. 38 m at Reims) and the width of the nave is about 14.6 m. The cathedral, erected on the plans ofRobert de Luzarches, consists of a nave with aisles and lateral chapels, a transept with aisles, and a choir (with deambulatory) ending in an apse surrounded by chapels.
Amiens Cathedral was built in1152 in Romanesque style and was destroyed by fire in 1218. Reconstruction was started around 1220 and the nave was completed around 1245. Reconstruction of the choir started began around 1238 andcompleted before 1269, and the most of this part of the building, including the transept, was completed in 1288. The south tower was constructed about 1366 and the north tower about 1401.
The FrenchRevolution left the edifice, which has undergone only minor restorations (Galerie des Rois), practically untouched. In 1849 onwards, Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc (1814-79) arranged and repaired the...