is a city and
Commune in the north of
France , 120 km north of
Paris . It is the ''
Préfecture '' (
Capital city) of the
Somme ''
Département ''.
The Paleolithic culture named
Acheulean was named for its first identified site, in Saint-Acheul, a suburb of Amiens. Amiens, the Roman '', was the central settlement of the Ambiani, one of the
Principal Tribes Of Gaul , who were issuing coinage, probably from Amiens, in the 1st century BC. By tradition, it was at the gates of Amiens that Saint
Martin Of Tours , at the time still a Roman soldier, divided his cloak with a naked beggar.
Amiens was later the capital of
Picardy .
Amiens Cathedral (a
World Heritage Site ) 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 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 Days 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.
Amiens was the birthplace of
Peter The Hermit and
Odette Sansom (1912-1995), a heroic member of the
French Resistance .
Amiens is celebrated for a treaty of peace between France and England concluded in 1802.
Amiens is also a setting in the ''.
