Paris1972-Versailles2003

So would like to take you a bit to the old Picardie, now Hauts de France region and a very nice city with a lot of history of the struggle to be free in world wars. This is Amiens , and we have been here all over but feel not enough written in my blog about Amiens. I would like to give you a couple of places often overlook but very much part of the everyday life of Amiens. Hope you enjoy it as we did.

A symbol of the reconstruction of Amiens after WWII is the Tower or Tour Perret near the gare or train station , of which area was totally destroyed by bombings of 1944. The tower opened in 1952 and has the name of the architect that built it, Auguste Perret. It has a height of 110 meters and for a long time was the highest building in Europe, visible from several km around the city. The tower remains initially uninhabited: contrary to the initial wish of Auguste Perret, it is decided to provide housing there but it does not win the support of the locals. After the interior fittings, the Perret Tower was finally inaugurated on July 24, 1960. The first occupants settled there in 1962.

In 2005, the project to modify the top of the Perret tower was completed. A glass cube that marks the hours by means of a luminous breath raises its top by six meters. This cube, made of an innovative material, active glass, is placed on the top floors of the tower. In light operation, it is supplied with low voltage; otherwise, when the glass is off, it remains opaque. A computer implements a device associated with a play of lights which, by reviewing all the colors of the rainbow, gives a variation of luminosity with each change of hour by a system of neon lights. Thanks to an adapted distribution of power and light sources, the lighting of the tower body has been studied so as not to cause any discomfort for its inhabitants.

Indeed seen from all over the town and even afar, it is an essential monument in the city of Amiens today.

You have more and address on the tourist office of the Somme dept 80 in French: The Somme 80 tourist office on the tour Perret

So would like to take you a bit to the old Picardie, now Hauts de France  region and a very nice city with a lot of history of the struggle to be free in world wars.  This is Aiens , and we have been here all over but feel not enough written in my blog about Amiens. I would like to give you a couple of places often overlook but very much part of the everyday life of Amiens. Hope you enjoy it as we did.

There was another nice building we like to past by even if not gone in (see post on cathedral) but for the memories of the post and Amiens will include. This is the Church of Saint Leu.

The Saint-Leu Church is located in the Saint-Leu district in the city center of Amiens. It is, after the cathedral to which it is very close, the oldest church in Amiens. The history of the Church of Saint Leu is truly known to us from the 15C, a period of prosperity found for the city of Amiens. The church was rebuilt and returned to worship in 1449. It is in flamboyant Gothic style. It was enlarged at the end of the 15C. The bell tower-porch was built around 1500. The entrance gate located at the southern base of the bell tower was redone in the 19C.

The naves are covered with broken wooden cradles made in the 15C The cradle of the southern collateral is furnished with keystones sculpted in the shape of an angel holding a coat of arms painted in the 19C. The choir retains a high altar surmounted by a glory of the 19C. In the north nave, an altar dedicated to the Virgin is surmounted by a statue of the Virgin and Child, on each side of the altar is a statue including a Saint Joseph on the left. In the south nave, an altar is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus with on each side a statue: Saint Louis on the left, Saint Elisabeth on the right.  The grandstand organ have it that the first organ of which there is almost no trace would date back to the 16C. The 18C buffet consists of a large body with five turrets and a back positive with three turrets. In 1793, during the French revolution, the Saint Leu Church was stripped of its furniture and transformed into a fodder store for the army. Under the Directory, the Church of Saint Leu was returned to worship in 1796.  In 1918, the last old stained glass windows in the church were destroyed by bombing during the German offensive in WWI. In WWII bombing spared the church.

The Somme dept 80 tourist office on the Church of Saint Leu in French: Somme tourist office on St Leu Church Amiens

Last but not least in this nostalgic look at Amiens , you can see other posts with the main things to see. I like to tell you about the Hôtel de Ville or city hall.

The Hôtel de Ville or City/Town hall of Amiens is a building from the 18-19C located in the city center of Amiens, in the Somme department no 80 of the Hauts de France region. The City/Town hall of Amiens was built on the site of the Gallo-Roman amphitheater built between the end of the 1C and the middle of the 2C. At the end of the 3C, the amphitheater was transformed into a castrum. The town had to acquire a private mansion, the Hôtel des Cloquiers, to hold meetings of the Alderman Council and house its administrative services. In the middle of the 16C, the city of Amiens built a City/Town hall there. From this first City/Town hall, built between 1551 and 1600, we have an engraving of Le Soing c 1704 representing the brick and stone facade with its decoration of pilasters, pediment, trophies and royal and municipal coats of arms. In 1756, ordered was given to build a new City/Town hall to overcome the shortcomings of the old one. The main facade looked at the Place au Fil and the Beffroi or Belfry. In the middle of the 19C, due to population growth, the enlargement of the City/Town hall was decided . From 1856 to 1886, the two wings and the two pavilions at each end were added. The main entrance was now placed on the south facade overlooking the main courtyard closed by a gate.The construction of these two wings led to the destruction of vestiges of the Gallo-Roman amphitheatre. In 1992, the gates were dismantled and reassembled at the entrance to the Parc de la Hotoie.  The main facade overlooking the main courtyard where stone and brick alternate. The entrance is marked by a slightly projecting pavilion, which is reached by a staircase of about ten steps. Upstairs, a gallery gives access to the reception rooms. The frontispiece is framed by the four statues at the foot of the gallery: at the ends, two aldermen who tried to resist the Spaniards during the capture of Amiens in 1597, François de Blayries (on the left) ; Le Mattre (right); in the center, Charles-Florimond Le Roux, last mayor of the Ancien Régime and deputy of the Third Estate at the Estates General of 1789 (left), and Antoine Clabaut, mayor of the 15C (right).

The city of Amiens on things to see, history and heritage in French: City of Amiens on history and heritage

And there you a nice walk will allow you to see all the above rather nicely and with time to spare for a day up nord in the Somme of the Hauts de France of my belle France. Hope you enjoy the brief tour of Amiens!

And remember, happyt travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!