Welcome to another episode of ChurchMapped and today we’ll be heading to AmienZ, France. Woops...I mean Amiens, France to see Amiens Cathedral. Amiens isn’t as famous as some other places in France, such as Paris, Lille or Nice...I mean “Nice”, ok...I’m about done with French names. Nevertheless, there are some things Amiens is noted for. The current president of France, Emmanuel Macron, was born in Amiens. And it is also known for the Battle of Amiens, which was instrumental in helping the Allies win the First World War. One of the things that is instantly clear to anyone who visits Amiens is just how proud the residents are of their military history, which is apparent from photographs of soldiers across many places. Amiens is also known for one other thing: its cathedral, Amiens Cathedral, or more formally known as the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Amiens. This cathedral is one of the grandest in France, and for that matter, Europe as a whole. It’s so grand, it’s a struggle to try to fit it all in one frame. It’s designed in Gothic, and would later come to influence other churches in the European continent such as Cologne Cathedral in Cologne, Germany – do check our travel guide out for that. Speaking of influence, did you know the French have had a particular influence on churches right across the world? A French priest founded St. Aloysius’ church in London, England – do check that travel guide out. And it was a French priest who founded The Cathedral of Saint Paul in Minnesota, United States – do check that travel guide out too. ChurchMapped is a travel company that specialises in churches right across the world. We create amazing travel guides for you to better understand churches you might see on your next holiday or pilgrimage or visit. We also have a music, jobs, games and dating service too. Just be sure to visit www.churchmapped.com and remember: we’re launching very, very soon! So be sure to hit that subscribe button for all the updates. Now back to Amiens Cathedral. We mentioned that Amiens Cathedral is Gothic, as is some of the other churches we’ve covered in our travel guides. But what exactly does Gothic mean? France is home to Gothic architecture. At the time Gothic architecture came into being, it wasn’t actually known as “Gothic architecture”. It was actually called modern – interestingly enough. However, critics at the time weren’t fond of it and so they labelled it “Gothic” after the Goths - no, not THAT goth - but a tribe of people who were known for being apparently barbaric. Yikes. The name stuck, and despite it being an insult, Gothic churches now invite countless tourists and pilgrims the world over. Talk about irony. Amiens Cathedral was built to house the apparent skull of St. John the Baptist as it was expected that a huge number of pilgrims would arrive to see it. The apparent skull of St. John the Baptist – who we speak about in our travel guide of St. Etheldreda’s church in London, England – was taken by a person involved in the Crusades in the early 13th century. Prior to Amiens Cathedral, the church itself was preceded by other buildings. One building was destroyed by the Normans in the 9th century. Another building burned down in 1137 and another in 1218. Churches are frequently susceptible to being destroyed by fire. That was clear from the fire that ensured the Notre Dame in Paris, France would be closed off to the public. It’s also clear from the Church of Saint Anselm and Saint Cecilia in London, England – a stained glass window there commemorates the incident – do check our travel guide on that. St. Etheldreda’s church, also in London, England, was almost destroyed by fire. We did a travel guide on that church too – be sure to check it out. In our upcoming travel guide, St. Dominic’s church in Lisbon, Portugal was also greatly damaged by fire. Be sure to subscribe to us to be notified on when that gets published. We’ll leave St. Dominic’s church for another day. In contrast to the susceptibility of churches to fire, Amiens Cathedral has been fairly resilient through the ups and downs of French and world history through the centuries. The foundation stone of Amiens Cathedral was laid in 1220 by Bishop Evrard de Fouilloy and it was completed in 1288, though depending on how you count it it could be have been deemed complete as soon as 1266 or 1270. This is considerably quick given both the project and the technology at the time. By contrast, it took Cologne Cathedral, which is of similar scope and size to Amiens Cathedral, around 800 years to be finished. In that time, Amiens Cathedral has seen a huge range of historical moments, from the French Revolution which saw it temporarily transformed into a strange “Temple of Reason” to the First World War and Second World War. Yet it still proudly stands to this day, seemingly undeterred to the turbulence of history. Amiens Cathedral gives us a good indication of the kind of art that prevailed during the reign of King Louis IX, the extremely popular king of France from 1226 through to 1270. He also has the distinction of being the only king in France to have been canonised as a saint. We spoke briefly about how canonisation works in our travel guide of St. Aloysius’ Church in London, England – check it out! The sheer size of the cathedral – which stands at 42.3 metres high and 145 metres long and is the largest in France - can certainly dazzle a person to the point they overlook the much finer details of the cathedral. Amiens Cathedral, like many other Gothic cathedrals, was built in a style designed to tell a story. From top to bottom, each aspect conveys the religious convictions of those held in the medieval era. Let’s first begin with the portals in what is known as the “West Facade”. Amiens Cathedral is generally divided into three portals: from left to right, the St Firmin Portal, the Portal of the Last Judgement and finally, the Portal of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We’ll begin with the St Firmin portal. St Firmin isn’t actually a very well known saint, but he is extremely popular in a part of Spain called Pamplona, Spain. He is the city’s first bishop as well as its patron saint. An annual celebration that occurs is the Fiesta de San Fermin, which takes place every year between July 6th to July 14th. By the way, if you’re curious about Spain, be sure to check out our travel guide of St. James’ Church (Spanish Place) which is based in London, England. We talk about Spain there as well as one of the country’s greatest traditions – the Camino de Santiago. We also talk about Spain in our upcoming travel guide of the Convent of St Teresa of Avila in Spain, among others. Be sure to check it out. So what has St Fermin got to do with Amiens, which is in France? Well, that’s exactly what this portal tells us, which was constructed around 1230. St Fermin was was a Spanish missionary to France. The arrival of Christianity to Amiens is not well-documented, but it would not be surprising if St. Fermin played a part. His preaching of Christianity got him into trouble, and so he was eventually thrown into prison by the authorities and he was ultimately decapitated. The discovery of his head and body is considered miraculous, and that is what this portal reflects here. According to accounts, St. Savin, the bishop of Amiens, discovered the body of St Fermin after a ray of light broke out from the sky and pointed to where his remains laid. You can see that commemorated here, where the ray of light almost comes across as looking like a rope. As the story goes, despite being decapitated, his body was found in one piece. As he was being dug up, a very strong sweet odour emerged, and even the trees bowed towards St Fermin. It is also said that as he was brought up from his tomb, a very strong heat emanated from his body. At the top, you can see here that his body is being carried through the city in a procession. It was a reportedly very popular event, which you can see here from all the men and women coming out looking to see his body as it is being carried through. A very small detail that is all too easy to miss is this small man here but is brought to you courtesy of none other than ChurchMapped. You can see he is holding his coat due to the heat coming from the body of St Fermin. However, there is something else. There appears to be a tree over his head. This fits in with a tradition across many European churches known as the “Green Man”, where a man is shown with his face covered in a tree. Speaking of ChurchMapped, are you travelling to a church on your next holiday or trip soon? Did you know you can watch our travel guides on the go on the phone? Just be sure to visit our YouTube channel to learn about a church as you are out and about, or alternatively, be sure to download our app in the Google Play Store and Apple App Store – coming soon! If you look at the centre of the St Firmin portal, you will see six statues which commemorate the various bishops of Amiens. The box between them represents the relics of St Firmin. If you look to the side, you will see various statues who represent saints that are commemorated in the liturgical calendar of the Catholic church as well as angels. But if you look closely you might be wondering: WHAT...THE...HECK??? Why are these statues holding their heads? These statues commemorate two saints called St. Acheul and St. Ache. This is a form of art known as cephalophore, a Greek word meaning “head-carrier”, which describes traditional accounts of saints being beheaded only to continue to walk around with their decapitated head. The next portal is known as the Portal of the Last Judgement. One could argue that of the three portals of the facade of Amiens Cathedral, this is the most studied as well as discussed. It certainly conveys a frightening picture. It is of course fitting that the architects of Amiens Cathedral placed Jesus at the centre, because in Christian tradition, Jesus is the centre of everything. This has been a theme in Christian art for a very long time in what is known as “Christ in Majesty”. At the centre of this portal stands a sculpture that has the name “Beau Dieu”, which means “Beautiful God”, which is supposed to represent Jesus. He is seen here with his two fingers raised as if to bless all those who visit. That He is placed at the centre evokes the theme from the Gospels, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life”. He is dressed in a philosopher’s garment, to give the impression that He is Wisdom itself. Indeed, that’s emphasised strongly from the fact that He is positioned above King Solomon, who is shown here. King Solomon, of course, was noted in the Bible as being the wisest man who ever lived. However, the artwork here attempts to convey that there was One even wiser than Solomon, and to which he derived his wisdom. Also shown here is a lion and a snake, which Jesus is standing over. Of course, the lion could represent many things. It could represent the Lion of Judah, Jesus triumphant over pride...the possibilities are endless. That’s one of the beautiful things about the various depths of meaning to medieval art. Let’s take a look above the Beau Dieu to this part of the portal that is called a tympanum. This is the Last Judgement. Here, Jesus is depicted in the centre, evoking the theme from the Gospels that He will come to judge the world, putting sinners to the left and the virtuous to the right. He is flanked by angels, who support Him in whatever He does. Underneath Him, one can see that sinners are being frogmarched to Hell whilst the saints are being taken into the Kingdom of God and being crowned with glory. Speaking of saints, did you know here at ChurchMapped we’re publishing a game shortly called “Name The Saint”, available on PC, Android and Apple. Your goal is to name as many saints as possible against the clock. You can play alone or against someone else. Just be sure to subscribe to us for an update as to when that gets published on the various platforms. ChurchMapped is an upcoming travel website and social network that specialises in churches right across the world. We also offer a games, jobs, music and dating service too. Just be sure to give us a “Subscribe” on YouTube, follow us on Twitter and ‘like’ us on Facebook for all the updates. Now back to where we were. . . Underneath this scene one can see angels blowing their trumpets, a theme found in the Book of Apocalypse in the Bible that is supposed to indicate the Day of Judgement. On the side of this Portal are the various Apostles holding the items by which they were killed. The last Portal is the Portal of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is the Mother of God. She is seen here with her foot over the head of a snake, taken to represent the Devil. This is a constant theme throughout Christian art and theology – the idea that the Blessed Virgin is free from sin and wrongdoing and has conquered evil. This is also reinforced again by the artwork below her depicting Adam and Eve and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam and Eve brought original sin into the world, but the Blessed Virgin Mary is the “New Eve”. If you’re interested in learning more about this, why not check out our travel guide of Farm Street Church in London, England where we talk about this in greater detail. The statues here represent the various stages of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s life. Over here we have the Annunciation, where St. Gabriel informs the Blessed Virgin she will conceive of a Son who is to be named Jesus. Then we have the Visitation, which describes the Blessed Virgin Mary’s visit of St. Elizabeth, both of whom were pregnant. Then we have over here the Presentation, where the Blessed Virgin Mary presents the Lord to Simeon. It’s interesting that in this part of the Portal, the Blessed Virgin Mary never appears alone. She always appears with someone else, showing her intimacy and her importance to humanity. On the other side of the Portal, we have over here the Queen of Sheba, followed by King Solomon, followed by King Herod the Great – who we spoke about in our travel guide of St. James’ Church in London, England….do check it out – and then finally, the Three Wise Men, who we spoke about in our travel guide of Cologne, Cathedral in Cologne, Germany – be sure to check it out. The bottom part of the typmanum represents six figures from the Old Testament; the middle part represents the life and death of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the upper part represents the Blessed Virgin Mary being crowned in Heaven. There are also some small details that are easy to miss from looking at Amiens Cathedral were it not for the help of – [cough cough] – ChurchMapped. These figures here represent the various virtues and vices. For instance, we have fortitude on the one hand and cowardice on the other. If we take a step back and then look upwards at the facade of the Cathedral, we can see that it features 22 statues. This is known as the Gallery of Kings, although it is not entirely clear who they represent. In all, Amiens Cathedral features around 750 statues on its exterior. With such a meaningful exterior, one can’t help but ask: who built this? We’ll find out in just a moment when we enter the cathedral but we should mention that the Cathedral didn’t always look like this. Oh no. At one point, it was very much coloured. However, over the centuries, the colour, well, drained away. Intriguingly, during the 1990s, a technique was found that allowed scientists to uncover what the cathedral would have looked like when it was painted in its heyday. So every year, Amiens Cathedral hosts a light show showing what the cathedral looked like during the medieval period. If you’re curious to find out when these events take place, be sure to visit www.churchmapped.com when we fully launch. Alternatively, be sure to download our app in the Google Play store and Apple App store and last, but certainly not least, be sure to subscribe to us here on YouTube for all the updates. Let’s head inside! Perhaps one of the most appropriate words from the Bible to describe the mentality of Gothic architects comes from 1 John 1:5: “God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all”. Gothic architects applied this to their designs, ensuring that the cathedrals and churches they built encapsulated as much light as possible. They felt that using light as a material conveyed a sense of the divine. This was done by creating churches that were extremely tall in size, and with the help of large windows. In fact, it should be mentioned that for a great big chunk of European history, if not world history, the largest building in an area was often the church. In our travel guide of Cologne Cathedral in Cologne, Germany, we noted that it was the largest building in the world until it was surpassed by the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. Be sure to check that travel guide out! The architects of the church are actually commemorated here in this labyrinth, which is the second largest in France after that of the Chartres Cathedral – do check our upcoming travel guide for that. It isn’t the original. The original was destroyed during the French Revolution; this one is just a faithful recreation. Interestingly, this labyrinth somehow managed to survive a bombing campaign by German planes. If you turn your monitor around, you’ll be able to read their names. Just kidding – that’s probably a bad idea. We’ll do it to save you the trouble. Over here we have Bishop Evrard de Fouilloy. Next we have Robert Luzarches. Then we have Thomas de Cormont. And then we have Renaud Cormont, Thomas’ son. One of the interesting things about this labyrinth is that it actually consists of a mistake. It states that the king of France in 1220 was King Louis VIII. But this isn’t accurate. It was Philip Augustus. King Louis VIII only reigned for about three years from 1223 onwards. It’s not actually clear why this mistake was made, especially in light of the fact that he was married in Amiens Cathedral. Go figure. Speaking of marriage… Did you know here at ChurchMapped we’re busy developing a dating website just for you? We have amazing features. Be sure to visit www.churchmapped.com/dating.html to read about all the features we have in store for you. And don’t forget to subscribe to get updates as to when we fully launch. Now back to where we were! There are around 25 different chapels here at Amiens Cathedral. We won’t be able to go through them all in our travel guide to save time but if you would like more information about them be sure to visit, you guessed it, www.churchmapped.com. You can also download our upcoming app, which will give you information in real-time about the surroundings of Amiens Cathedral and many churches like it. We start with the Chapel of St Lambert, dedicated after St. Lambert of Maastricht. It is not exactly clear when this part was built, but most likely around the 1300s. Next we have the Chapel of St Michael, although today it is known as the Chapel of St. Sauve. It’s dated to about 1389. The Lord is shown here with a golden crown. Although He is being crucified, it does not seem as if His hands are supporting the weight of His body, once again conveying a sense of victory over death. Next we have a chapel dedicated to one of the bishops of Amiens, St. Honoré. The paintings beside him depict various miracles he is said to have worked. This chapel was probably also built around the 1300s. Next up is a chapel that was originally dedicated to St. Agnes, but is now dedicated to St. Firmin. It was also built around the 1300s. Before we explore the other chapels of Amiens Cathedral, how about we explore some of the altars here? Here we have the altar of St. Firmin, St Sebastian and St Yves. It was built around 1346 by Bishop Jean de Cherchemont. Here we have the altar of the Notre Dame du Pilier Rouge, which was established by Firmin de Cocquerel around the 1300s. He also has the name “Firmin”. In fact, Amiens Cathedral seems to lack no abundance when it comes to the name “Firmin”: Fermin, Fermin Everywhere. And on that note perhaps we should have mentioned earlier that when we spoke of the man called “St. Firmin”, we should clarify we actually meant “St. Firmin the Martyr”. That’s because there is another St. Fermin associated with Amiens Cathedral – in fact, he is shown right here – and he is usually styled, “St. Firmin the Confessor”. He was the third bishop of Amiens. In most cases, “St. Firmin” usually refers to St. Fermin the Martyr, but this is just a head’s up for those visiting the Cathedral. Be sure to check out www.churchmapped.com for more explanations like this. Now back to where we were. The altar of the Notre Dame du Pilier Rouge was designed by a group, or more specifically a confraternity, called the Puy Notre Dame. Puys were basically groups during the medieval period in France that were dedicated to the promotion of poetry and music, usually along religious lines and usually connected in some way to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The puy in Amiens, France arrived fairly late compared to other puys, but it actually ranks as one of the most distinctive. Unlike other puys, the puy in Amiens was distinctive in that a Master would provide a refrain for the poem and those in the puy would use for a poem, and the refrain would be celebrated in the form of a poem. This arrangement was somewhat unique to the puy in Amiens, although it is evident elsewhere in France, such as Abbeville. The puy was usually held on Candlemas, which falls on the 2nd February. Over here is a chapel dedicated to the Conversion of St Paul. It was established in 1233 by John Halgreen of Abbeville. The painting commemorates the Conversion of St. Paul, which is celebrated in churches around the world. At The Cathedral of Saint Paul in St Paul, Minnesota, you can get a plenary indulgence for visiting the church on the day. Check our travel guide to find out more. Here we have the Chapel of St Peter and St John the Baptist. This is the Chapel of St. John the Evangelist, built around 1375 by Jean de le Grange, who served as bishop after Jean de Cherchemont, who we spoke about moments ago who established the altar of St. Firmin, St. Sebastian and St. Yves. We’ve only covered a few chapels at Amiens Cathedral for brevity but there are around 25. If you’re looking for more information, be sure to head over to www.churchmapped.com for an even greater insight into this amazing cathedral. But before we say goodbye to Amiens Cathedral, there are two things we would like to cover. The first is answering the question of what is it that has made Amiens Cathedral survive as long as it did through the ups and downs of history. One of them is this man here, a French architect in the 19th century called Eugene Viollet-le-Duc. He was something of a controversial figure during his time but he was responsible for repairing and restoring many churches throughout France. Amiens Cathedral is one such church. Another little known reason is that during the during the First World War, on July 1918, Pope Benedict XV intervened and requested to German forces that they stopped bombing the church. Interestingly enough, they agreed. How’s that for friends in high places? Remember when we said earlier that the full name of “Amiens Cathedral” is actually the “Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Amiens”. Some of you might have wondered. . .what exactly is a “basilica”? Ah, good question! To find out the answer, be sure to see our upcoming travel guide of the Basilica of Saint Mary in Minneapolis, United States. That’s it for this episode of ChurchMapped. Until next time! Oh, we forgot to mention one other thing. 2020 marks the 800th anniversary that the foundation stone of Amiens Cathedral was laid. There are many events that will be commemorating this. For all the updates, be sure to visit www.churchmapped.com. Subscribe to us here on YouTube, follow us on Twitter and give us a ‘like’ on Facebook. Ok, that’s it for now!