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AMIENS , a city ofSee also: northern See also: France, capital of the department of See also: Somme, on the See also: left See also: bank of the Somme, 81 m
.
N. of See also: Paris on the Northern railway to See also: Calais
.
Pop
.
(1906) 78,407
.
Amiens was once a place of See also: great strength, and still possesses a citadel of the end of the 16th century, but the ramparts which surrounded it have been replaced by boulevards, bordered by handsome residences
.
Suburbs, themselves bounded by another See also: line of boulevards, have arisen beyond these limits, and the city also extends to the right bank of the Somme
.
The busy quarter of Amiens lies between the See also: river and the railway, which for some distance follows the inner line of boulevards
.
The older and more picturesque quarter is situated directly on the Somme; its narrow and irregular streets are intersected by the eleven arms of the river and it is skirted on the See also: north by the canal derived therefrom
.
Besides its boulevards Amiens has the ample See also: park or See also: Promenade de la Hotoie to the west and several See also: fine squares, notably the Place Longueville and the Place St Denis, in which stands the statue of the famous 17th-century See also: scholar See also: Charles Ducange
.
The
See also: cathedral (see ARCHITECTURE: Romanesque and See also: Gothic Architecture in France; and CATHEDRAL), which is perhaps the finest See also: church of Gothic architecture in France, far exceeds the other buildings of the
See also: town in importance
.
Erected on the plans of Robert de Luzarches, chiefly between 1220 and 1288, it consists of a See also: nave, nearly 140 ft. in height, with aisles and lateral chapels, a transept with aisles, and a choir (with deambulatory) ending in an apse surrounded by chapels
.
The See also: total length is 469 ft., the breadth 216 ft
.
The See also: facade, which is flanked by two square towers without See also: spires, has three portals decorated with a See also: pro-See also: fusion of statuary, the central portal having a remarkable statue of Christ of the 13th century; they are surmounted by two galleries, the upper one containing twenty-two statues of the See also: kings of See also: Judah in its arcades, and by a line See also: rose-window
.
A slender See also: spire rises above the See also: crossing
.
The See also: southern portal is remarkable for a figure of the Virgin and otner statuary
.
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