Amiens Before and During the War 6

Amiens Before and During the War 6

The PREFECTURE consists of two contiguous buildings. One, modern, is

fitted up as offices. The other, which is the Prefect's residence, was

formerly the headquarters of the Intendant of Picardy.

 

The latter building was erected in 1773-1774 from plans prepared by the

Parisian architect _Montigny_. It was considerably damaged, both outside

and inside, by bombardment (_photo opposite_).

 

_Separated from the Museum by the Rue Puvis de Chavannes is the_ =City

Library=.

 

The LIBRARY is a modern building containing nearly 100,000 books and

about 1,000 manuscripts, including several of great value. _(To visit

apply to the curator)._ The colonnaded building in the rear was partly

destroyed by bombardment.

 

_On leaving the Rue de la République, take on the right the Rue Puvis de

Chavannes (continued by the Rue des Louvets) as far as the Rue de

Beauvais (photo below). Turn to the right. At the corner of the Rue de

Beauvais and the Rue Frédéric-Petit is the_ =Lycée=.

 

THE LYCÉE is located in the partly rebuilt structure which was formerly

the _Abbey of St. John of the Order of Premonstrants_ (17th century);

fine cloister.

 

The façade of the modern portion, looking on the Rue Frédéric-Petit, was

grazed by shell splinters.

 

_Follow the Rue de Beauvais, continued by the Rue Alphonse Leuillier, as

far as the_ HÔTEL DE VILLE (H _on detailed plan_); 18th century façade,

finished in the 19th century.

 

[Illustration: CORNER OF THE RUE DE BEAUVAIS AND RUE FRÉDÉRIC-PETIT NEAR

THE LYCÉE]

 

 

Bailliage and House of the White Gable

 

_To the left of the Hôtel de Ville, take the Rue de la Malmaison, in

which is situated the_ =Ancien Bailliage= (Old Bailiwick--_L on detailed

plan)._

 

[Illustration: FAÇADE OF THE "BAILLIAGE." (_Bailiwick_)]

 

To see it, the tourist should enter the courtyard of the City Fire

Station, at the bottom of which, on the right, is a narrow passage

leading to a tiny court, facing which is the curious façade of the

house. Gothic-Flamboyant in style, it is richly decorated with

Renaissance motifs (_photos_).

 

A frieze of accolade-shaped arches with crockets runs along the

building. Inside the arches, seven pure Renaissance medallions of men

and women have been carved.

 

Two small Renaissance angels dated 1541 appear below, between the two

rectangular windows. On the left side of the building, a pretty

dormer-window with triangular pediment breaks the monotony of the large

slated roof, as is customary in civil Gothic architecture. Two

Renaissance medallions of a man and a woman appear on the dormer-window.

 

[Illustration: FAÇADE OF THE "BAILLIAGE."]

 

Inside, interesting 16th century keel-arched timber work still exists in

the audience chamber of the Bailiwick, the ceiling of which is hidden by

a cloth.

 

_Cross the Square behind the Hôtel de Ville. To the left of the

Post-Office, take the Passage Gossart, at the end of which, under a

vault, is the gate of a narrow alley leading to a small court._

 

On three sides of the latter is a curious house with wooden walls built

about the year 1492 by a rich cloth merchant, Nicolas Fauvel, mayor of

the city. This house, known as the =House of the White Gable=, is shown

at F on the detailed plan. Abutting on the main building, which is the

original structure, a kind of corbel-work gable was added over the exit

from the Passage Gossart. This was probably used by the mayor as a

tribune from which to harangue the people gathered together in the

courtyard.

 

[Illustration: HOUSE OF THE WHITE GABLE. (_Cliché LL_)]

 

This tribune (_photo opposite_) is supported by a half-vault of wood,

the arches of which abut against the stone corbels. At the outside

corner, a console terminating in a flying angel forms a pendative, and

is decorated with curious carving depicting a man in the dress of a 15th

century burgess, having three heads.

 

One of his feet is bare, the other shod. On the opposite console is the

figure of a man on horseback, probably Nicolas Fauvel, wearing the

mayoral robes of Amiens. Part of the house with wooden walls was

destroyed by a bomb, but the mayor's tribune escaped uninjured.

 

_Returning to the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville, the tourist should turn to

the right to see the_ =Ancien belfry= of the City of Amiens (_E on

detailed plan_).

 

The lower portion only is old. Its heavy 18th century steeple contains a

=bell= weighing eleven tons.

 

_Leaving the Belfry behind, continue to follow the Rue du Chapeau de

Violettes as far as the Rue St. Germain, at the corner of which is_ =St.

Germain's Church= (_D on detailed plan_), historical monument. A fine

building in the Flamboyant style, dating from the middle of the 15th

century, it was seriously damaged by a bomb which fell in the Rue St.

Germain on the night of the 13th-14th May, 1918, destroying five houses.

 

[Illustration: ST. GERMAIN CHURCH AND RUE ST.-GERMAIN.]

 

 

House of the "Sagittaire"

 

The south façade, looking on the street, as well as that of the apse,

suffered badly throughout their entire length.

 

[Illustration: ST.-GERMAIN CHURCH: DETAILS OF PORCH.]

 

Although the main body of the building remained standing, most of the

ornamental carving was broken and the doorway torn open, while all the

stained glass was destroyed, together with the greater part of the

mullions of the windows. Inside, the vaults were pierced in several

places.

 

The doorway in the Rue Pingré is uninjured (_photo above_). Part of the

ornamental carving is of great delicacy, but the statues are modern. The

door is of wood with Renaissance carvings. A square tower leaning

towards the North flanks the doorway.

 

The interior of the church is beautifully proportioned and very simple

in arrangement. The choir, slightly more modern than the nave, dates

from 1478. The lateral chapels contain some 16th century stained glass

and a reproduction of the Burial Scene dated 1506.

 

_Skirt the church by following the Rue St. Germain to the_ PLACE DU

MARCHÉ DE LANSELLES (_curious old houses_).

 

_Cross the Square diagonally on the right, then take the Rue des

Vergeaux._

 

_In this street (Nos. 57-59--K on detailed plan) is the_ =Maison du

Sagittaire= (_Archers' House_), so called on account of two small

figures of archers carved at the top of the keystones of the arcaded

vaults on the ground-floor.

 

Pure Renaissance in style and dating from 1593, it is the finest and

best preserved house in the old town (_photo opposite_).

 

[Illustration: HOUSE OF THE "SAGITTAIRE"

 

_Rue des Vergeaux nos. 57-59._]

 

The ground-floor comprises two broken-arch arcades, each of whose

tympanums is ornamented with two semi-recumbent figures of women.

 

A frieze ornamented with medallions of Roman warriors extends between

the ground-floor and first-floor.

 

Five magnificent lions' muzzles appear between Renaissance motifs in

this frieze.

 

[Illustration: PLACE DES HUCHERS ABOUT 1820. (_drawing by the Brothers

Duthoit_).]

 

 

OLD AMIENS

 

_Return to the Place du Marché de Lanselles and take the Rue St. Martin,

which is at the right-hand corner._ There are two =fine façades= in this

street, one Louis XV. at No. 7, and the other Louis XVI. at No. 18.

 

A shell caused rather serious damage to the left-hand window on the

first floor of the former. _At the end of the Rue St. Martin take on the

left the Rue Flatters, which continues the Rue du Bloc. Leave the

latter, taking on the right the Rue des Rinchevaux which leads to the_

Place des Huchers. (=Fine view= of old houses and cathedral--_photo

below_).

 

[Illustration: PLACE DES HUCHERS.]

 

[Illustration: HOCQUET CANAL]

 

_To the right of the Square take the Rue du Pont-Piperesse visible in

the photo, p. 49_, then on the left, _the Rue des Gantiers and the Rue

Hocquet. At the intersection of the latter with the Rue de Metz-l'Evéque

take a few steps to the right in the last-named street, to get a_ =view=

_of the picturesque_ Canal du Hocquet (_photo above_).

 

_Continue along the Rue du Hocquet and its continuation (Rue de la

Barette). At the end of this street, turn to the left, cross the bridge

over the Somme and go up the Boulevard de Beauvillé for several hundred

yards, to get_ a pretty =view= of the town _on the left_ (_photo

below_).

 

[Illustration: PANORAMA OF AMIENS (_as seen from the Boulevard

Beauvillé_).]

 

[Illustration: THE "HORTILLONNAGES" (KITCHEN-GARDENS).]

 

 

The "Hortillonnages"

 

In the foreground of the above photo is a "Hortillonage." This is the

local name for the tiny islets in the vicinity, whose rich black soil is

generally cultivated as kitchen-gardens by men and women called

"hortillons" or "hortillonnes." These gardens are intersected by

innumerable small canals fed by the Rivers Somme and Avre. The most

important "hortillonnages" are at the east end of the town. Visiting is

only possible in the long flat-bottomed boats with turned-up ends seen

in the photo above.

 

Each morning in summer the boats go, loaded with fruit and vegetables,

to the "floating market" of Amiens (_photo below_).

 

The soil of these gardens is wonderfully fertile, fruit and vegetable

crops succeeding one another unceasingly all the year round. The total

revenue exceeds two million francs, and a "hectare" (rather less than

two and a half acres) often costs twelve thousand francs.

 

[Illustration: THE "FLOATING" MARKET _Place Parmentier. In the

background "Pont de la Dodane."_]

 

[Illustration: THE RUE DU DON ON MARKET-DAY.]

 

 

The St. Leu Quarter

 

_Return by the same way to the bridge, then turn to the right and follow

the Port d'Amont as far as the first bridge_ (Pont du Cange). This

bridge dates from the fifteenth century, and is the oldest of the many

bridges which cross the canals.

 

_Cross the bridge, then turn to the left into the Rue Belu, which runs

along the river-side. From here there is_ a pretty =view= of the

Cathedral and the old town (_photo below_). _At the end of the Rue Belu,

cross the Pont de la Dodane. To the left is the Place Parmentier, where

the_ "Floating Market" _is held (p. 51). In front are the first houses

of the curious_ Rue du Don, _seen in the centre of the photo below, and

on the right of the photo on p. 53._

 

_Take a few steps to get a good view of this street (photo above),

re-cross the Pont de la Dodane, then take on the left the Rue d'

Engoulvent, which runs by the side of an arm of the Somme (photo p. 53),

as far as the_ =church of St. Leu=. _The tourist may either go round the

apsis of the_ church, _taking on the left the small Rue St. Leu which

crosses the arm of the river, or continue straight ahead as far as the

Rue St. Leu, via the Rue Graineville, which is the continuation of the

Rue d'Engoulvent_.

 

[Illustration: _To the right_,

 

PONT DE LA DODANE.

 

_In the background, Place Parmentier entrance to the Rue du Don._]

 

=St. Leu Church= (hist. mon.) has undergone important alterations at

various times. One of its façades is 15th century, and a steeple was

rebuilt in the 16th century, in the Gothic style. A shell splinter

 

[Illustration: OLD BISHOPS' PALACE (_in front of Cathedral_).

 

_To the right_, RUE DU DON.]

 

broke the mullions and stained glass of one of the windows of the apse

(north side). This Church is in the centre of the old quarter or lower

part of the city. It is there that the commerce and industry of the town

have been centralised since the Middle Ages.

 

A maze of narrow, winding streets crossed by innumerable canals or arms

of the Somme river, connected by bridges, forms this part of the town.

Numerous small water-falls supply motive power to the local factories

and works. Formerly, the workshops of the fullers and dyers, which

crowded the banks of the canals, and where the cloth-fulling and

woad-grinding were done, were driven by water-wheels (_see p. 2_).

 

The houses have kept their ancient aspect, and are curious for their

wooden walls, sharply pointed gables, steep roofs with tiny

dormer-windows, and daring corbellings overhanging the narrow streets

and canals. The only means of access to the outside which some of them

possess is a foot-bridge passing over the canal.

 

_Turn to the right into the Rue St. Leu, passing in front of the_ =Hôtel

Dieu=. Rebuilt in the 17th and 18th centuries, except the St. John ward,

which was built at the beginning of the 16th century in the

Gothic-Flamboyant style, it is a spacious hall with two large roofs, the

gables of which face the street. The vaulting is of wood, the ends of

the beams being carved. The whole is in very bad condition.

 

_After crossing six successive lines of canals offering_ picturesque

perspectives (_especially the_ Rue de Ville _and_ Rue des Coches), _the

tourist arrives at the_ =Citadelle=.

 

The Citadelle, built in the 16th century, has since been dismantled and

now serves as a barracks. The =Porte Monte-Ecu= (historical monument),

built in 1531 under François I., is within its walls. It was through

this Gate that the Spaniards entered Amiens in 1597. _To get a view of

it, turn to the right after the Pont de la Citadelle and take the first

street on the left (see detailed plan)._

 

[Illustration: PONT DE LA DODANE.

 

_On right of Canal_, RUE D'ENGOULVENT. _On the left_, RUE DES MAJOTS.

_In the background_, ST. LEU CHURCH.]

 

_Return by the same way to the Rue St. Leu. A little beyond the Church

of St. Leu, take the Rue Fernel on the right, in which several_ 15th

century wooden

 

[Illustration: RUE D'ENGOULVENT (ABOUT 1820). (_drawing by the Brothers

Duthoit_).]

 

houses are still to be seen. No. 33, known as the "Ramoneurs," is

especially worthy of note, though greatly deteriorated.

 

_Follow the Rue Fernel to the Place Samarobrive, to the left of which

take the Rue des Bouchers_ (_photo below_--picturesque old houses,

especially No. 33).

 

_At the end of this street, turn to the right into the Rue

Haute-des-Tanneurs, which is continued on the other side of the Place

Fauvel by the Rue Basse-des-Tanneurs._

 

At the end of the Rue Basse-des-Tanneurs, see the ancient dilapidated

façade (1493) of the =Hotel Morgan de Belloy= (_B on detailed plan_),

and the =Château d'Eau= (_A on detailed plan_), dating _from the 18th

century_.

 

A natural history museum has been installed on the first floor.

 

_From the Hôtel Morgan there is a_ =fine view= _of the Cathedral and the

lower town_ (_photo page 55_).

 

_If the tourist has time he should cross the Somme by the Pont St.

Michel, then follow the Boulevard du Jardin des Plantes to visit the_

=Jardin des Plantes=, _which is on the right of the Boulevard_.

 

[Illustration: RUE DES BOUCHERS.]

 

_Retracing his steps he should turn to the right after the Pont St.

Michel, and follow the Port_

 

[Illustration: RUE BASSE DES TANNEURS _seen from the Rue Condé. In the

background, steeple of the Church of St. Germain and the Cathedral_.]

 

_d'Aral, then turn to the left and take the Boulevard du Port._

 

_On arriving at the Place du Marché aux Chevaux, turn to the right into

the Rue du Faubourg-de-la-Hotoie as far as the_ =Promenade de la Hotoie=

(_see coloured plan_), a magnificent _park_ of about 50 acres, continued

on the north by the =Jardin Anglais= of the "Petite Hotoie," ten acres

in extent.

 

The Promenade de la Hotoie was used by the military authorities as an

automobile park during the War and is now in a deplorable state.

 

_Return via the Faubourg de la Hotoie, then take the Rue de la Hotoie

which continues it beyond the Place du Marché aux Chevaux._

 

_At the end of this street in the Place St. Firmin, take the Rue St.

Jacques on the right, then immediately afterwards the Rue Gresset on the

left_ (_No. 11 was formerly the_ =Hôtel des Monnaies=--_18th century_).

 

Only the entrance door remains, the pediment of which is decorated with

two fine figures of women.

 

[Illustration: RUE BASSE DES TANNEURS _In background, Hôtel Morgan and

old Château d'Eau_.]

 

_Continue along the Rue Delambre, cross the Place Gambetta, and follow

the Rue des Trois Cailloux._

 

_After the Theatre, turn to the left into the Rue Robert de Luzarches which leads to the Cathedral._