Amiens The Cathedral of Notre-Dame of Amiens

Amiens has the largest Gothic cathedral in France by interior volume. It was begun in 1220 and most of it was built within about fifty years, which gives it a unity rare among the great churches. Since 1206 it has kept a relic venerated as the head of Saint John the Baptist, brought from Constantinople after the Fourth Crusade.

The portals of the west front were once painted, and on summer and Christmas evenings a light show puts the colors back on them. In the choir, the oak stalls carved between 1508 and 1522 hold more than four thousand figures from the Bible and from the life of the town.

Further reading: Reading a Gothic Cathedral: A Guide for Pilgrims.

• The Beau DieuThe figure of Christ blessing, on the central portal of the west front.
• The choir stallsSeen from inside the enclosure on a guided visit.
• The Weeping AngelA small seventeenth-century angel on a tomb behind the choir, which soldiers of the First World War sent home on postcards.

• April 8, among the Sisters of Notre Dame de NamurFeast of Saint Julie Billiart

• Saint Julie BilliartFounder of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur

• Via CathedralisThe Cathedral Way, seven daysDay IV, Rouen, then Amiens · Day V, Amiens, then Reims

About an hour and a quarter by train from the Gare du Nord in Paris.

• CompiègneThe Town Where Joan of Arc Was Taken, about 40 miles as the crow flies
• PontoiseThe Carmel of Pontoise, about 59 miles as the crow flies
• RouenThe Cathedral and the Old Market Square, about 62 miles as the crow flies
• Saint-DenisThe Basilica of Saint-Denis, about 66 miles as the crow flies