Cathedral Notre Dame d'Amiens in colour (by kerouac2)
Aug 28, 2015 5:00:59 GMT
Post by Deleted on Aug 28, 2015 5:00:59 GMT
The current cathedral of Amiens was built very quickly, from 1220 to 1288, and is the largest in France. Naturally a few additions were made over the years because new generations always have new ideas and more particularly new bishops. In 1498, the building was on the verge of collapse due to the size of the arches more than 42 metres overhead. The master mason of the time, Pierre Tarisel, decided to circle the entire edifice with chains of Spanish iron, which is still in place today. The cathedral was not only saved, but became one of the most structurally solid buildings in the world for several hundred years. It was affected very little by the Revolution, although like many other places, it was convered to a "Temple of Reason and Truth." Only some royal fleur de lys symbols were chipped off while the statues kept their heads.
The ubiquitous Viollet le Duc spent 25 years renovating it in the 19th century. The main flourish that he felt compelled to add was a gallery connecting the two towers. During the Great War, the cathedral of Amiens was miraculously spared while the cathedrals of Reims and Ypres were destroyed. This was due to some intense secret diplomacy and the fact that Pope Benedict XV implored the Germans to stop shooting at the cathedral. During World War II, the cathedral was also mostly spared while the rest of the city was razed by bombs. So it's a pretty luckly place.
It has been a Unesco World Heritage site since 1981.
For the last 15 years, the city has presented a light show every night of summer and also during the Christmas season to return the cathedral to its original colours for 40 minutes. In medieval times, all of the statues were painted, and it must have been an amazing sight, although I can't help but thinking that they probably were not repainted very often and were probably totally faded and stained most of the time. Projecting brilliant new colours temporarily solves the problem.
It you want to see the cathedral during the day, it is in this report that I made 5 years ago.
Anyway, I was determined to finally see the evening show after having it on my list for years, so I arrived in Amiens at 8 p.m. from Paris (the train takes just over an hour) and dropped off my stuff at the hotel. It was situated in 4 ancient buildings that have been connected. The corridors and rooms are full of old exposed beams.
A pleasant stream runs alongside the hotel. The Somme department is one of the major wetlands of France, and you are never far from water.
The cathedral was just a couple of blocks away, with the 'show' due to begin at 22:00. This other old church was down one of the other streets.
I had to walk past the "Dubai Club" chicha bar to get to the cathedral.
And there it was.
It was only 21:30 but people had begun to gather.
The ubiquitous Viollet le Duc spent 25 years renovating it in the 19th century. The main flourish that he felt compelled to add was a gallery connecting the two towers. During the Great War, the cathedral of Amiens was miraculously spared while the cathedrals of Reims and Ypres were destroyed. This was due to some intense secret diplomacy and the fact that Pope Benedict XV implored the Germans to stop shooting at the cathedral. During World War II, the cathedral was also mostly spared while the rest of the city was razed by bombs. So it's a pretty luckly place.
It has been a Unesco World Heritage site since 1981.
For the last 15 years, the city has presented a light show every night of summer and also during the Christmas season to return the cathedral to its original colours for 40 minutes. In medieval times, all of the statues were painted, and it must have been an amazing sight, although I can't help but thinking that they probably were not repainted very often and were probably totally faded and stained most of the time. Projecting brilliant new colours temporarily solves the problem.
It you want to see the cathedral during the day, it is in this report that I made 5 years ago.
Anyway, I was determined to finally see the evening show after having it on my list for years, so I arrived in Amiens at 8 p.m. from Paris (the train takes just over an hour) and dropped off my stuff at the hotel. It was situated in 4 ancient buildings that have been connected. The corridors and rooms are full of old exposed beams.
A pleasant stream runs alongside the hotel. The Somme department is one of the major wetlands of France, and you are never far from water.
The cathedral was just a couple of blocks away, with the 'show' due to begin at 22:00. This other old church was down one of the other streets.
I had to walk past the "Dubai Club" chicha bar to get to the cathedral.
And there it was.
It was only 21:30 but people had begun to gather.