Wanderlust Travel Magazine (UK)
Travel icon: Amiens, France
As Amiens Cathedral celebrates its 800th anniversary this year, discover why this Gothic masterpiece is listed twice on the UNESCO World Heritage List...
With 800 years of history, Amiens Cathedral has a tall story to tell
Get orientated
Eight hundred years is a long time. But Amiens Cathedral – France’s largest Gothic structure – has seen the best and worst of it all, withstanding the decades to reach this impressive octocentenary. That’s not to say that there hasn’t been a few close shaves along the way – defective flying buttresses, fires and two world wars, to say the least – but the twice Unesco-listed masterpiece (once as part of the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage route and once in its own right) has overcome it all.
Visit during the summer for a spectacle of sound and light (15 June-16 September), or you can observe the official anniversary celebration on 14 July (notredameamiens.fr/800).
But if you want to enjoy Picardy’s riverside capital before the crowds arrive, take a boat ride through a maze of floating gardens, admire centuries-old art at Musée de Picardie or enter the wild world of avant-garde sci-fi writer Jules Verne at his former house-turned-museum. Keeping watch will be the cathedral, a silent spectator to all that goes on in the city.
Getting there & around
British Airways flies direct from London Heathrow/city to Paris (around 75 minutes; from £40 return). Hour-long trains to Amiens from Paris run regularly.
The visit
On entering the cathedral (€8/£6.60), you'll instantly be struck by the scale of it: chapels, galleries and soaring vaults combine to create a volume of 200,000m3 – double that of Paris’ Notre-dame.
As you set foot in the sacred chambers, silence your echoing footsteps with an hour-long audioguide tour (€4/around £3.40) detailing the cathedral’s long history, including the fact that it’s alleged to have been the resting place of John the Baptist’s skull.
Something is sure to catch your eye at every corner: bronze effigies of its founding bishops, a golden sculpture of the Virgin Mary, moving war memorials and colourful statues that bring the cathedral to life. Behind the baroque altar, you’ll also spy l’ange Plereur – the weeping angel – who represents the ephemeral nature of life, made famous from the postcards sent home by First World War soldiers.
Outside the cathedral, explore the artisan shops of the St-leu quarter, before making your way to Les Hortillonages – floating market gardens that have graced the city’s canals since the Middle Ages. Every third Sunday, market gardeners recreate this era by dressing up and sailing the River Somme in traditional boats. By night, you can dine at a riverside restaurant where you can reflect on your visit in peace.