Amiens (Friday 4 November)

PHOTOS TO BE ADDED

I catch a bus into town and make for the most dominant feature on the city skyline. You guessed it – the Cathredal. You may think I’m a cathedral fanatic but it is hard not to be drawn to these amazing structures. They are after all the heart and soul of these cities and like other Christian cities, Amiens’ Cathedral is huge. It reminds me of the giant Cathedral in Calogne, though smaller. This isn’t surprising as the design of the Calogne Cathedral came from France. Calognes Cathedral differs also because it lacks the gothic style circular widow feature that is so prominent in most cathedrals. The very tall narrow design didn’t allow for it.

Even if you aren’t Christian, or even religious, you still have to marvel at these structures. I see these things as a measure of how powerful faith in a religion can be. How powerful a force must a Christian faith can be to motivate meer mortals to physically build something as large and ornate as this? The effort required is unimaginable. Such power in the wrong hands would be a bad thing and sadly human history is filled with accounts of misused faith.

Each Cathedral seems to house a treasure. It’s as if they all need some sort of marketing gimic to attract the masses to their church. The Calogne Cathedral had the remains of the Three Kings, or Three Wise Men, inside a gold shrine. Amiens’ Cathedral has John the Baptist’s head! Behind bars within a recess in the wall is this mummified-looking face under Perspex (or is it glass?). Is that real? Anyway I’m sure that probably inspired many a pilgrimage to this church. Past Bishops are buried here beneath bronze statues, which is unusual apparently.

Amiens is a beautiful city, especially now in her autumn colours. And the people are beautiful too. I don’t know what they have done with the ugly ones because they certainly aren’t walking the streets, during the day anyway.