Talk:Amiens Cathedral
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"The Cathedral of Our Lady of Amiens (French: Cathédrale Notre-Dame d'Amiens), or just Amiens Cathedral, is the tallest complete cathedral in France with the greatest interior volume..." Is there an incomplete cathedral that is taller? that would be interesting. Maybe somebody should write about it. Either that, or not suggest that such exists. Xientist 23:39, 6 May 2006 (UTC)
Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Beauvais is taller than Amiens' cathedral but could not be completed at the time, mainly because the spire collapsed in 1573 (according to the French article about Beauvais Cathedral). The lack of funds has led to nowadays' building. --LeftEye 14:34, 14 May 2006 (UTC)
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[edit] The height of the spire?
How tall is the crossing's spire above ground level? MathKnight 20:02, 24 November 2006 (UTC)
- I found it. It is 112.7 meters. MathKnight 20:37, 24 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Wartime Protection of the Cathedral
During a visit in 2002 I found two postcards in the gift shop at the Cathedral, one showing elaborate use of sandbags to protect the West portals during World War I, and the other showing immense piles of sandbags inside the Cathedral protecting the columns and some of the statuary during World War II. Does anyone have additional information about these protective measures? Are there any public domain photos available?
Could scanned versions of the postcards be somehow authorized for insertion in a Wikipedia article?
Response in either French or English will be welcomed.Tvbanfield 04:30, 8 March 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Collectors cards?
I have a set of 2o cardboard cards (4 across x 5 down) that make up a picture of the Cathedral d'Amiens. On the 4th card across on the first row, there is a picture of the coat of arms which says on the coat of arms "Cathedrale D'Amiens". Then underneath this says, World War 1 1914-1918 Amiens. I don't know where these cards are from as they are stuck to a card and framed. By removing these would cause damage to them. I was wondering if anyone knew anything about these cards and whether they are collectable items. 203.87.99.94 (talk) 11:30, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
[edit] The interior
Many thanks to Sjwells for inserting this new section on "The interior" with those superb images. I have always regretted not taking those photos during my visit. In my opinion, it is the illumination and contents of the interior that make the Amiens Cathedral the best of all the French cathedrals. It is the largest and the best preserved. And it is only an hour and a half from Paris. I would suggest enlarging the gallery with images of larger pixels. There seems to be room.Tvbanfield (talk) 23:24, 29 January 2008 (UTC)
Thanks very much. It's a very great cathedral and was of enormous economic importance in the Middle Ages. I like Gothic architecture, but it's often the polychrome sculpture that communicates across the centuries better. That's why the brilliant light show at the western end is so worth seeing. I'm not sure how much of a "discovery" the polychrome work there actually was, because pretty well all medieval (and indeed classical) sculpture was originally painted regularly. I guess the specifics of the Amiens sculptures were a discovery. The early modern polychrome work inside is wonderful, particularly the charming small reliefs. Unfortunately, quite a lot of the free standing and higher relief work needs a good clean. There's a wonderful Cleansing of the Temple in the North transept that you just can't do justice to photographically because it needs a cleansing of its own. I've actually put the St Firmin polychrome sequence from the south ambulatory under the saint's own entry in Wikipedia, because I think it's probably of greatest interest there, but I have linked it on this page. Arguably, some of the John the Baptist stuff would go just as well on that saint's page too. I did photograph considerably more than I;ve posted here, including more of the small reliefs on John's Nativity. I've also got reasonable snaps of the organ and the pulpit. The latter has some amazing baroque sculpture, perhaps allegorical or prophetic in character, but I can't reliably identify the allusions. Perhaps, if I post a couple of photos, someone might make more sense of them than I can.
My backgound is English Protestant, so this stuff gives a tremendously important insight into European devotion that is largely obliterated in Britain, although it has many links with Celtic legend and oral tradition. I've covered some excellent Breton examples of it under the parish close entries.Sjwells53 (talk) 10:30, 30 January 2008 (UTC)
