Amiens Cathedral

            Amiens Cathedral is a fine example to represent Gothic architecture. It is located in Amiens, France. The master architect responsible for the project was Robert Le Luzarches. Before the construction of the cathedral, there once stand a Romanesque basilica, but unfortunately it was burn down by a great fire in 1218 and marks the beginning of Amiens Cathedral. Construction of Amiens Cathedral was from 1218 to 1269, unlike other Gothic cathedrals, construction did not begin with the choir, instead the west façade and the nave was constructed first. 

              The cathedral took a lot from Norte Dame of Paris, for example the west façade takes on a similar layout. The façade was tremendously decorated with sculptures that show a linkage with Norte Dame of Paris and Chartres. For example, Virgin’s Portal was shown on the west façade of Norte Dame and following this example Amiens had the Death, Assumptions and Coronation of the Virgin on the south portal. 

              The cathedral is about 145 meters long by 75 meters wide. The cathedral has the longest nave throughout France with a length of 133.5 meters.  While the height of the walls of the nave reached about a little over 42 meters. It was designed as a three aisled basilica with transept with a five aisled choir with seven ambulatory chapels. The walls of the cathedral were modeled out of Chartres cathedral. Usually it is seen in Gothic cathedrals that the walls were painted to draw attention, however Amiens is different because the walls were shown grey while the vaulting of the nave and capitals were painted red and ochre. Similar in Chartres cathedral, Amiens also have the labyrinth pattern on the floor of the nave, back in the days, believers would trace the maze lines with their knees in a symbolic journey to salvation. 

                During the Gothic era, architects had become so skilled at the ribbing of the vaulting that in the case of Amiens, the extra transverse rib across the center of the bay allowed the architect to build higher than other cathedrals. Amiens was so well designed that it influenced many later Gothic cathedrals such as the Cologne Cathedral of 1248.  

Works Cited

      1.       Binding, G. 2002. High Gothic The Age of the Great Cathedrals. Cologne, Taschen.

      2.       Bony, J. 1983. French Gothic Architecture of the 12th and 13th centuries. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London. University of California Press.

      3.     Branner, Robert. Gothic Architecture. New York: George Braziller, 1961. Print.