More of Beauvais Cathedral

See the little man rushing by at the bottom and notice just how high this cathedral is. Also a model showing the buttresses.

St Pierre Cathedral, Beauvais

St Pierre Cathedral, Beauvais
Although the cathedral has never been completed, it is still the highest cathedral in the world ( 220.570866 feet or 67.23m to the lightning conductor). It is entirely built in the locally quarried chalk. Construction began in 1225 and took only about 20 Years. The building was victim to a number of disasters over the centuries. The cathedral is home to the world’s oldest chiming clock from 1305. Religious songs chime to change the season. There is also a magnificent 19th c. Astronomical Clock with has 90,000 shares with are perfectly synchronized. The clock has been stopped now as the dust was wearing it too much.

The small Romanesque church of the tenth century, known as the Basse Œuvre, much restored, still occupies the site destined for the nave. In the race to build the tallest cathedral in the 13th century, the builders of Saint-Pierre de Beauvais pushed the technology to the limits. Even though the structure was to be taller, the buttresses were made thinner in order to pass maximum light into the cathedral. In 1284, only twelve years after completion, part of the choir vault collapsed, along with a few flying buttresses. It is now believed that the collapse was caused by resonant vibrations caused by high winds.

This is a rare example of a Carolingian cathedral. It was truly amazing—the height of it. The collapse of the boom which peaked at 153m (from ground level) in the 16th century left the building without a nave. Because there is no nave, the arches and vaults are trying to fall in, therefore, there are trusses holding up the cathedral walls. The buttresses on this church are amazing. And the murals were so old. I just stood there inside and leaned back as far as I could AND STILL could not see all the way to the top of the arches at the very top. How they built this cathedral of this height in the 1200s is astounding.

Pictures of the cathedral, its stained glass, and the trusses.

The Tomb of Jules Verne

Our next stop was the Cimetiere of La Madeleine, also in Amiens. This is where Jules Verne lived and was buried. Jules Verne ('20,000 Leagues Under the Sea', 'Around the World in 80 Days', 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth') was born on February 8, 1828 and died at the age of 77, on March 24, 1905. He was buried in the Cimetiére de la Madeleine in Amiens, France. Built 200 years ago on the foundations of an old refuge for lepers called “the Madeleine”, the site counts more than 10,000 tombs. 5000 people attended Verne’s funeral on March 28, 1905.

In 1907 a sculpture was placed over his grave. It was designed by Albert-Dominique Roze (1861-1952). The sculpture depicts the figure of Jules Verne emerging from the tomb, stretching his hand out to the sky, and is entitled "Vers l'Immortalite et l'Eternelle jeunesse" (Towards Immortaility and Eternal Youth).

Pictures from top: 2 pictures of Jules Verne's grave; a token pumpkin left at the grave; a sign we always love to see.

More of Amiens Cathedral

from top: woman stabbing man in the head; carving of beheading of John the Baptist; inside vaults and arches; exterior of cathedral. The last picture is copied from Wikipedia (permission given) showing the exterior as it is lit with its original colors.

Amiens Cathedral November 12

Well, the hard-boiled egg idea didn’t work out too well. Ray’s idea of hard-boiled and mine are obviously different. So I have resorted to Jelly Donoughnuts for breakfast tomorrow. I know, I know…It is a hard thing I must do. Don’t worry, I will survive. : )

We headed out this morning with a change in plans. Since the weather is better today than tomorrow and we needed to be in and out a lot to see the 3 extra things we decided on, we are postponing Chartres until tomorrow and today we headed northward.

Drove UNDER the Seine in this claustrophobia-inducing very low tunnel then on to Amiens. This cathedral was built to house the head of St. John the Baptist that was, according to the story, brought back from Constantinople by Crusaders. This relic would be the principal source of revenue for the cathedral for years to come, enabling the construction of the grand Gothic cathedral that endures today. Building began about 1220.

Amiens Cathedral (Cathédrale Notre-Dame d'Amiens) is the tallest Gothic church and largest cathedral in France. The vaults of the nave are 42.30 m high, the tallest nave vaults in any completed French cathedral, and surpassed only by the incomplete Beauvais Cathedral. Along with the cathedrals of Chartres and Reims, Amiens is a member of the illustrious triad of "High Gothic" or "Classical" French cathedrals built in the 13th century. Amiens Cathedral was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981 for the beauty and harmony of its art and architecture.

There is a labyrinth in nave—one that is painted on. It was meant as a substitution fot those who could not make a real pilgrimage to Jerusalem or Santiago de Compostela. The pilgrims would walk it or kneel along their way to the center of it.

There is actually a skull of John the Baptist (supposedly) here on display and I think there was another body part under glass, with the words Ora Pro Nobis in latin—pray for us. But I couldn’t tell what the part was. The head has been here since 1206.

In the cleaning of the front of the cathedral, it was found that it was originally PAINTED!!! Can you just imagine?! There is a light show here in the summer that recreates the lighting perfectly, just as it would’ve been painted in the beginning. Would love to see that.

Inside there were colored carvings—one which showed a women very surreptitiously stabbing a man in the head! Felt like someone should call 911. Many recreations of the beheading of John the Baptist.

The original design of the flying buttresses around the choir had them placed too high to counteract the force of the ceiling arch pushing outwards resulting in excessive lateral forces being placed on the vertical columns. The structure was only saved when, centuries later, masons placed a second row of more robust flying buttresses that connected lower down on the outer wall. This fix failed to counteract similar issues with the lower wall which began to develop large cracks around the late Middle Ages. This was solved by another patch that consisted of a wrought iron bar chain being installed around the mezzanine level to resist the forces pushing the stone columns outward. The chain was installed red hot to act as a cinch, tightening as it cooled.

Pictures from top: the front of the cathedral that was originally colored!; 2 pictures of the inside of the cathedral; carvings inside; statue of the head of John the Baptist hanging down from Salome's hand.