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Amiens is a beautiful city in northern France with amazing pedestrian and bicycles only wide shopping streets. Even more amazing is the exquisite  Amiens Cathedral

Our Lady of Amiens Notre-Dame d’Amiens
West front of Notre Dame d’Amiens

Amiens Cathedral floor plan

This is a basilica where a five aisled choir and a three aisled nave is intersected by an aisled transept of shallow projection. The seven segment hemicycle is encircled by a single aisled ambulatory with seven radiating chapels, the axial chapel projecting more deeply than the others. To the west a frontispiece of unusual design embodies tower supporting masonry in the western bay of the nave carrying two rectangular towers. The plan is rigorously controlled by a central geometric matrix in the form of a great double square located in the crossing and contiguous bay. The diagonal of the great square gives the length of the nave and the half diagonal gives the choir.

ELEVATION

The cathedral has a three story elevation: spacious arcadecapped by a prominent foliate band, a blind triforium in the nave and glazed in the choir and a tall clerestory. With a height of some forty-two meters the vertical space is divided into two equal parts by the foliage band.

The Axiel chapel interior wall is almost all glass. This is a wonderful illustration of the superior structural engineering for a non-weight bearing exterior wall built in the 13th century.

choir south side.

This shows the flying buttresses that made these mostly glass non-weight bearing exterior work for over 800 years, the flying buttresses transferred  the force of the roof  weight from these exterior walls. The weight bearing was transferred from the exterior walls  to the long straight buttresses.

This is a graphic explanation how Gothic Architecture worked. The weight is transferred by the flying buttresses to the buttress.

Visiting  Amiens Cathedral is a very dramatic experience. This is a CATHEDRAL that has the highest ceiling of any French Gothic Cathedral in daily use. The light filled interior

is the brightest of any French Cathedral I have visited. There is much to see at the Amiens Cathedral including the gift shop and bookstore.

First instance, shortly after  the Cathedral was finished cracks appeared in the north nave walls. Immediately, the builders made corrections. After these were made no more cracks appeared

I hope you have a chance to visit  this World Architectural treasure designated by UNESCO.

CHARTRES

The first photo on the left is the view from afar of the CHARTRES CATHEDRAL, the next picture is the west portal from a distance.

below these photos, is the floor plan of this Cathedral. The Chartres Cathedral is the birthplace of High Gorthic architecture.

As we approached the famed west portal, I  was reminded that this was originally built as the entrance of a Romanesque Cathedral. This prior Cathedral was destroyed by fire in 1194, but left the west portal in tact. . Standing in front of the west portal, seeing the wonderful sculpture is amazing. Even more amazing is to walk around the exterior to see the results of the extensive use of flying buttresses. FIRST, I noticed that flying buttresses of the nave were different than the flying buttresses of the choir. The prevalent theory is that while building the nave, there were. tremendous wind storms. The builders decided that the buttresses of the nave were not higher enough to withstand the wind load created by the storm.  I saw the added part of these buttresses. These builders changed the height of the flying buttresses of the choir to conform to what they had learned from the flying buttresses of the nave.

High Gothic architecture was created at Chartres. The Cathedral returned to a three part elevation using huge clerestory windows by eliminating the gallery . The much higher height of the interiors was made possible because the builders understood using flying buttresses and created the first skeletal structure. The skeletal system was based on vaults that had strong supports with regular spacing between the vaults.

The greatest medieval art collection in the world is generally credited to the Chartres Cathedral for the extensive, beautiful stained glass from the 13th century.

STRASBOURG CATHEDRAL

FIRST is the exteriot of the STRASBOURG Cathedral, next the in terior, and then the floor plan of the STRASBOURG Cathedral/

The Strasbourg Cathedral of Notre-Dame, built on the foundations of an Early Romanesque church begun in 1015, has long been famed as one of the noblest achievements of Western architecture, which reflects the whole range of styles from Romanesque to Late Gothic (12th-15th C). The west front (1277-1318) was the work of Master Erwin of Steinbach and his successors; the delicately articulated octagon of the north tower (1399-1419) was built by Ulrich von Ensingen of Ulm, the openwork spire by Johannes Hoeltz of Cologne (1420- 1439). In 1793, 235 statues and countless ornaments fell victim to the fanaticism of the French Revolution.  The interior of Strasbourg Cathedral has beautiful stained glass, including representations of 21 German emperors and kings in the north aisle, a Late Gothic pulpit (1484-1485) and an organ

Last week I began to actualy visit the French Gothic Cathedrals I have been studying for many years. This is 7th heaven. The first Cathedral I visited was Laon. The train to Laon from Paris makes 18 stops. This early masterpiece stands on a hill overlooking Laon. Around the Cathedral is a medieval town with narrow streets and buildings from the Dark Ages. The west doors to the Laon Cathedral are spectacular. The towers will completely knock you out. The sculptures are life like. When I entered the Laon Cathedral, it is an unforgetable, awesome experience. This is what great architecture

LAON CATHEDRAL- EARLY GOTHIC

should do to you.
Entering one of the earliest Gothic Cathedrals is startling. The height, the spaciousness, and the light were beyond my imagination. It is no wonder that the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was modeled after the Laon Cathedral. To prevent any confusion, there are over 300 French Cathedrals and churches named Notre Dame.
I spent several hours looking at the internal structure, columns, vaults, windows, nave, transept, and choir. Then I walked completely around the Laon Cathedral. After which I sat outside the West Portal just drinking in the details.
The Soisson Cathedral is nearby. This is an equally famous early Gothic Cathedral that was a model for later Gothic Cathedrals. I was so exhausted by my wonderful experience at the Laon Cathedral that on the train from Laon I did not get off the train at Soissons.
The next day I took an express train to Reims. The average speed of this train was over 120 mph. There was no sensation of speeding, it felt as if we were going about 30 mph until I saw cars going in the same direction. We were going at least twice the speed of these cars. Yet the ride was as smooth as possible.
The Reims Cathedral is where most French Kings had their coronation. First, the city of Reims is beautiful and the capital of the Champaign growing area. The Reims Cathedral is what you would expect as the High Gothic Cathedral for the coronation of French Kings. The light in this church is like it comes from heaven. I was there on a dingy day with slight rain, nevertheless, light poured into this magnificent building. The only problem was the Reims has built surrounding the Cathedral. Thus, much of the east end of the Reims Cathedral can not be viewed.
next I will tell you about my visits to Chartres Cathedral and the Strasbourg Cathedral.

After spending several hours studying the columns, vaults, nave, transept, and the choir, I walked around the Cathedral studying the structure, sculpture, and workmanship. Then I sat in front of the west portals just admiring the workmanship.
It is easy to understand why this became the model for the Cathedral du Notre Dame in Paris. incidentally there are over 300 churches in France named Notre Dame.  Although I expected a great experience, I never imagined how humbling and overwhelming viewing this masterpiece is. I walked completely around the Cathedral viewing the stone work, the structures, windows, and towers. afterwards I sat at a table in the square in front of the west portals in awe of what I was beholding.

No wonder this served as the model for the Cathedral du Notre Dame in Paris. incidently there are over 300 churches in France named Notre Dame.
On the train back to Paris, a few steps is Soissons. Here the Cathedral of Soissons is an early Gothic masterpiece that was a another model for many High Gothic Cathedrals.  On the return to Paris I had planned to visit the Cathedral du Soissons, but this visit to Laon had taken so long that I did not stop at Soissons.
The next morning I took a train to Reims. Reims is about 90 miles from Paris. The non-stop express train to Reims took less than 40 minutes. Although we traveled at over 120 mph, there was no sensation of speed -felt like we were going 30 mph. The ride was as smooth as being on a plane. Reims Cathedral is where the coronation of most French Kings took place. The interiors of this High Gothic Cathedral are befitting a coronation. The height of the nave and the aspase is magnificent.  The only problem I had was seeing the famous exterior of the Reims Cathedral because the town is built up around the Cathedral. Reims is a beautiful city where there are wonderful buildings and much activity. I sat in an outside cafe looking at thev west portals and people watching. Although this awe inspiring structure has been in Reims for over 800 years, each day many people from all over arrive to enter this Cathedral.
That was the first two days.