When you leave the scarred ground of the Vimy battlefields and pass by the last sign post to another World War I cemetery, you imagine that the war is now behind you and you can return to the showpieces of civilization, including the cities of Amiens and Rouen, both renown for their great cathedrals, monuments to the Prince of Peace. And having spent a month in Paris, you imagine romantic streets lined with architecture from centuries past. But quickly, you find that a different history has unfolded in the cities of northern France, and that there are clear signs of two world wars here, where both Allied and German shells turned so many historic buildings to rubble. Rubble has eventually given way to the architecture of the late 20th century, particularly in Amiens, which may not stir the romantic imagination, but it is a living testament to the resilience of the French people.
Amiens is a small city (133,000) by the Somme River. The various channels and tributaries of the Somme River flow through the heart of the city, creating a garden of small islands, known here as 'les hortillonnages'. But the river served for me as an ever-present reminder that we are in the Somme valley in which so many World War I soldiers lost their lives (over one million soldiers either killed or injured from July 1st to November 1916 - one of the bloodiest battles in human history). But that didn't stop us from enjoying a boat tour through the island properties, or walking along the riverside path/road that passed by our little house. Originally, 'les hortillonnages' were a way of reclaiming swampland to provide agricultural produce for the local market, starting as early as the 12th century. It no longer serves as an important source of vegetables, but is rather a place of retreat for the individuals who own cottages on the islands, some of whom do recreational gardening.
Scenes from our boat tour of les hortillonnages
Une passerelle (bridge with locked gate to private home on one of the islands)
Gate of Mordor passerelle
The path in front of our house
Our wee house
Only he has a better view of the Somme
The best view of all
The one remaining monument from Amiens' medieval past is the enormous Cathédrale Notre Dame d'Amiens, the largest cathedral in France. When I first read that Amiens was the biggest, I imagined that its advantage over other cathedrals would be statistical, but not visible - I was wrong. It reminded me of how remarkably wide Bourges Cathedral appears when you step inside. But whereas Bourges is wide, Amiens is wide, long and tall (only Beauvais is taller, and it doesn't really count as it only has a choir). As you let your gaze wander over the spaces that separate the piers, your whole body, regardless of size, is made to feel insignificant.
All cathedrals look big from this vantage point
Looking from the arcade toward the nave and choir
One side of the choir/ambulatory
But if you really want to know how big a cathedral is, you have to climb the towers - all 302 steps! I've never felt so close to a rose window.
Cath tries on a steeple
But beyond its size, the cathedral at Amiens is full of enough curiosities and stories to justify two whole visits. Built between 1220 and 1288, it replaced a Romanesque church on the site, which was already renown for receiving a rare relic of remarkable religious repute: the regal head of St. John the Baptist. (Apparently John the Baptist was something of a Hydra, as there are at least four so-called heads of St. John the Baptist in existence, according to this
article). It is believed that the Gothic Cathedral was built to house the relic. We found that despite the cathedral's title, Notre Dame, John the Baptist came out ahead in statuary.
John the Baptist gives the Cathedral two thumbs up
Salome reacts to Herodias' knife play - a 15th century perspective
The relic (which they had hidden somewhere, so we saw only a picture of it)
Evidently John the Baptist's gruesome end caught on
This little angel wasn't too happy about it all
The cathedral did not emerge from the First World War unscathed, but did fare well during the Second World War. Sadly, the stained glass windows were removed to Paris during World War I to escape damage from enemy shelling, but the artist's workshop in which the glass was stored suffered a fire that destroyed most of it. The feature that stood out for me were the number of statues remaining intact on the western facade, and I counted them all: 89!
He survived a revolution and two world wars - now that's something to smile about!
Amiens has one further claim to fame, and they have made the most of it. Thus, we went on a Jules Verne walking tour, which fortunately took much less than 80 days, during which we saw the house Jules Verne lived in (he wasn't born in Amiens, but lived there as an adult, and became a municipal councillor), a monument to Jules Verne, the Jules Verne Cirque (a permanent building for the Circus, which was built in 1889 with the encouragement of Jules Verne), the church that was under construction near his home (which likely interrupted his writing), the museum he went into, a library that has his books, in fact anything and everything that could in any conceivable way be related to Jules Verne. Despite all of that, I am no more likely to pick up one of his novels.
In the next blog entry, we'll take a look at one of Normandy's largest urban centres, Rouen, yet another bastion of resilience.
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