Amiens

Amiens stands on the Somme, where waterways and bridges helped make it a great city of Picardy. Its Gothic cathedral rises above a town long enriched by textiles. Trade in woad, the plant that supplied a prized blue dye, helped finance the enormous church begun in 1220; the plant itself appears among the carvings on its façade.

In the late fifteenth century cloth workers from Arras brought new skills to Amiens, helping establish the light woollen fabrics that became a mainstay of its industry. The city remained an important frontier stronghold. In 1597 Spanish soldiers disguised as peasants seized it; Henry IV recovered Amiens after a six-month siege and ordered a citadel built to secure it. In 1802 French and British representatives signed the Peace of Amiens here, temporarily ending war between their countries.