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Home > Travel France > France Destinations > Amiens
Amiens
France, officially the French Republic, is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in Western Europe and comprises various overseas islands and territories which are located in other regions. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. At 674,843 square kilometers, France is the world's 40th-largest country after Myanmar. France is a member of The European Union and Paris is the capital of this nation. The sole official language of France is French. Since prehistoric times, France has been a crossroads of trade, migrations, and invasions.
Amiens is a city and commune in the north of France, 120 kilometers from north of Paris. It is the capital city of the Somme department. It is considered the Picarde capital of France. Amiens Cathedral is the tallest of the large classic Gothic churches of the 13th century and is the largest in France of its kind. After a fire destroyed the former cathedral, the new nave was built 1220 finished 1247. Amiens Cathedral is notable for the coherence of its plan, the beauty of its three-tier interior elevation, the particularly fine display of sculptures on the principal facade and in the south transept, and the labyrinth and other inlays of its floor. It is described as the Parthenon of Gothic architecture, and by John Ruskin as Gothic, clear of Roman tradition and of Arabian taint, Gothic pure, authoritative, unsurpassable, and unaccusable.
Amiens is also known for the hortillonages, garden on small islands in the marshland along the Somme River, surrounded by a grid network of man-made canals. The Battle of Amiens was the opening phase of the hundred day’s offensive in World War I. Jules Verne was a member of the city council of Amiens from 1888 to his death in 1905. He is buried in the Madeleine Cemetery. Clovis Trouille, from 1889 to 1975, was born in Amiens and trained at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts from 1905 to 1910.
Amiens was the birthplace of Peter the Hermit and Odette Sansom, a heroic member of the French Resistance. Amiens is celebrated for a treaty of peace between France and England concluded in 1802. Amiens is home to Amiens SC, a football team in Ligue 2, the second-highest league in French football. It enjoys a very positive reputation with worldwide travelers.
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