Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Rouen
The site on which Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Rouen sits has hosted a church from at least the 4th century. The Cathedral has undergone multiple building projects since that period. As a result, the present structure has Early Gothic, Late Flamboyant, and Renaissance elements. An all-star cast of famous historical visitors graced the Cathedral with their…
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Fifth Stop – Rouen
Our brief visit to Beauvais and Cathédrale Saint-Pierre was a happy detour on our way to Rouen, the capital of Normandy. After Paris, Rouen is the third largest city in France and sits on the same river as Paris, the Seine. Its location near the English Channel makes it a prosperous port city and a…
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Fourth Stop – Beauvais
The fourth stop on our cathedral pilgrimage was more of a pause than an extended visit. Rouen was technically our next destination, but we could not pass up the chance to visit Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Beauvais since it was on the way. Beauvais’ cathedral has the highest Gothic choir in the world (48.5 meters or…
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Amiens: A City of History, Art, and Culture
We spent a week in Amiens during our cathedral pilgrimage. Since our trip focused on cathedrals, religious sites, and French history, Amiens gave us a lot of bang for the buck. Of course, the Cathedral drew us here, but it was marvelous exploring the city, too. Our narrow purpose necessarily kept us from experiencing many…
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Enchanted Chanting
The Cathédrale Notre-Dame d’Amiens is the third of the great cathedrals built in northern France during the thirteenth century (the others being the cathedrals in Reims and Chartres). Besides being the largest Gothic cathedral in France, it has an impressive set of medieval sculptures on its facade and many old polychrome sculptures inside. But the…
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Soaring Vaults and Great Treasures
We planned to make the city and cathedral of Amiens a particular focus for our cathedral pilgrimage. Besides Rouen, we spent the most time exploring here than any other church or place in France. I initially considered spending our whole time exploring Chartres Cathedral, arguably the best-preserved Gothic cathedral in the country. That would have…
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Amiens Cathedral: Almost Heaven
The scale of Notre-Dame d’Amiens is hard to comprehend, a familiar experience when visiting Gothic cathedrals. Church architecture for medieval people served a didactic function; in other words, the building was a sermon. Approaching and entering such a structure is like accessing Heaven. It is simply impossible not to become transfixed at some level. Even…
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Third Stop – Amiens
Continuing our circumnavigation around the Île-de-France, our next pilgrimage stop was the city of Amiens. France’s excellent highway system makes the drive from Laon to Amiens a pleasant hour-and-a-half cruise. When driving from Reims to Laon, we took the back country roads to visit Vauclair Abbey, but on this leg of our trip, we had…
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Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Laon
A church has existed in Laon since the beginning of the fifth century. However, the Gothic structure we have today dates back to the 1150s, owing to a parish uprising that destroyed several buildings, including the Romanesque church. Completed in a mere 80 years, the Cathedral is a stylistically unified example of Early Gothic architecture.…
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Second Stop – Laon
The second stop on our Cathedral pilgrimage was in the hilltop city of Laon. Retaining a great deal of the charm of its history, Laon looks like a storybook town out of a medieval tale. High up on a hill above the Picardy plain, its ramparts and fortifications successfully checked the invasions of the Franks,…
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