Amiens Cathedral, western portals, oblique view from north

This view allows us to appreciate the tension between flatness of the front edges of the great buttresses which carry and 12 minor prophets and the cavernous depth of the portals scheme. The human figures lining the sides of the portals join with their companions on the front surfaces of the buttresses to form a continuous procession: prophets, apostles, saints and those who participated in the incarnation of Christ.