I was very impressed with this cathedral. It had been a few years since I visited a huge French gothic cathedral and therefore I wasn’t suffering from the fatigue that could easily spoil a trip to this site. The cathedral is huge and surprisingly uniform, as it was built in a very swift amount of time for a Gothic cathedral.

The interior is massive and contains some fine sculptures and great stained glass. Also I was happy to see the labyrinth on the floor has remained uncovered, as several other cathedrals I have visited have frustratingly places chairs over their own versions.

Perhaps the most impressive thing for me was the incredible mass of sculptures on the western facade (the ‘main entrance’). It was a truly superb ensemble, the finest Gothic sculptural grouping I have seen and that was what set it apart from the many other gothic cathedrals I have visited.

Amiens itself is a nice city, but not especially pretty, however it had a very friendly atmosphere and some nice shops and cafes. Of particular note was the very friendly cafe Jean Trogneux on the square overlooking the western façade of the Cathedral.

I missed the light show (Son et lumière) which lights up the cathedral’s statues to reveal their original colourings. When I first heard of this I thought it was something of a tourist trap however from the images I have seen it looks magnificent and also shows the cathedral in its original Polychromatic light that would add a lot to the visiting experience.

There are an awful lot of Gothic churches inscribed on the world heritage list, (at least 10 lie within 200 miles of Amiens) illustrating that this is a very over represented aspect of religious architecture. However the exceptional size and magnificent sculptures at Amiens really do justify a visit and some form of inscription on the list.