Amiens Cathedral

Image: Wikimedia Commons

In 1206 a canon returning from the Fourth Crusade brought to Amiens a relic venerated as the head of John the Baptist, and the pilgrims it drew paid for the grandest cathedral in France. Begun in 1220 after fire destroyed the older church and largely complete within fifty years, Notre-Dame d'Amiens rose with a unity few cathedrals possess: a nave vaulting to forty-two metres, an interior vast enough to hold Notre-Dame de Paris twice over, a west facade carved like a stone Bible, and the famous Weeping Angel beloved of pilgrims and soldiers. The labyrinth of 1288 still traces its path across the floor, the relic still rests in the treasury, and UNESCO has listed the church since 1981. On August 29, the feast of the Baptist's beheading, Amiens honours the voice that prepared the way.