Cathédrale Notre-Dame d'Amiens

Amiens

With the largest interior volume of any Gothic cathedral in France, Amiens marks the northern end of the 'Marian axis' invoked by geobiology tradition alongside Chartres and Paris. Much of its medieval prestige rests on a singular relic: the head of Saint John the Baptist, brought back from Constantinople in 1206 by the Picard canon Wallon de Sarton on his return from the Fourth Crusade, and kept in the cathedral's treasury for more than eight centuries since. The cathedral owes part of its exceptional size to that same relic, which drew such a flood of pilgrims that the earlier Romanesque building proved too small.

Getting there : Free entry

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound