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AMIENS

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 855 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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AMIENS , a See also:

city of See also:northern See also:France, See also:capital of the See also:department of See also:Somme, on the See also:left See also:bank of the Somme, 81 m. N. of See also:Paris on the Northern railway to See also:Calais. Pop. (1906) 78,407. Amiens was once a See also:place of See also:great strength, and still possesses a citadel of the end of the 16th See also:century, but the ramparts which surrounded it have been replaced by boulevards, bordered by handsome residences. Suburbs, themselves bounded by another See also:line of boulevards, have arisen beyond these limits, and the city also extends to the right bank of the Somme. The busy See also:quarter of Amiens lies between the See also:river and the railway, which for some distance follows the inner line of boulevards. The older and more picturesque quarter is situated directly on the Somme; its narrow and irregular streets are intersected by the eleven arms of the river and it is skirted on the See also:north by the See also:canal derived therefrom. Besides its boulevards Amiens has the ample See also:park or See also:Promenade de la Hotoie to the See also:west and several See also:fine squares, notably the Place See also:Longueville and the Place St See also:Denis, in which stands the statue of the famous 17th-century See also:scholar See also:Charles See also:Ducange. The See also:cathedral (see See also:ARCHITECTURE: Romanesque and See also:Gothic Architecture in France; and CATHEDRAL), which is perhaps the finest See also:church of Gothic architecture in France, far exceeds the other buildings of the See also:town in importance. Erected on the plans of See also:Robert de Luzarches, chiefly between 1220 and 1288, it consists of a See also:nave, nearly 140 ft. in height, with aisles and lateral chapels, a See also:transept with aisles, and a See also:choir (with deambulatory) ending in an See also:apse surrounded by chapels. The See also:total length is 469 ft., the breadth 216 ft.

The See also:

facade, which is flanked by two square towers without See also:spires, has three portals decorated with a See also:pro-See also:fusion of statuary, the central portal having a remarkable statue of See also:Christ of the 13th century; they are surmounted by two galleries, the upper one containing twenty-two statues of the See also:kings of See also:Judah in its arcades, and by a line See also:rose-window. A slender See also:spire rises above the See also:crossing. The See also:southern portal is remarkable for a figure of the Virgin and otner statuary.

End of Article: AMIENS

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