In Entering the Cathedral, we enter and move down the length of the cathedral encountering key monuments to the presence of the clergy (the tomb of the founding bishop) and the creativity of the master masons (the labyrinth set in the nave floor with the images of the master masons in its central plaque).  Entrance through the west portals is particularly dramatic owing to the absence of massive underpinnings necessary to support substantial towers: the frontispiece at Amiens is relatively modest.  The written narrative accompanying our images invites the user to look closely and to understand the essential architectural system of the nave with its steep three-story elevation and its plan based upon square aisle bays and double-squares in the main vessel.  The ability to "read" the forms of the cathedral will allow the student to see that the lateral chapels flanking the nave were not part of the original construction: they were added in the 14th century to provide burial spaces for the clergy and wealthy members of the urban elite.  Originally the enormous windows of the aisle would have been immediately available to the visitor, glowing with stories of the saints and scriptural allegories. Some of these windows were given by the professional guilds (corps de métier): woad merchants, bakers, taverners, textile workers etc: the identifying signature of the carpenters survives and has been reinstalled in the north choir aisle.  In the original nave without the chapels the compressive force of the aisle plus the continuing forms of the aisle windows with its little arcade in the lower wall (dado) would lead the visitor forward.  That forward-moving ductus is induced not only by the architectural forms and spaces but also by images: the destination of the passage down the nave was originally provided by an enormous image of Christ on the Cross flanked by John and Mary mounted high atop the magnificent screen (jubé) at the western boundary of the choir (demolished and replaced in 1755).  The great crucifix and screen, brightly painted and gilded, carrying the narrative of the Passion must have provided a kind of beacon for medieval visitors.  Reaching the center where the long, boat-like body of the cathedral is intersected by a cross-arm or transept, the visitor experiences a dramatic spatial transformation as the tunnel-like space of the nave opens into the lateral spread of the transept arms.  The transformative effect is enhanced by the slightly wider bays on each side of the crossing.  It is in this area that modern visitors may sense most strongly the presence of their medieval predecessors, the layfolk, who would gather here to listen to sermons or readings, or to witness the display of relics from atop the choir screen.  This was the dramaturgical heart of the cathedral, the arena for the projection of the liturgical activities beyond the choir into the space of the layfolk.  And the south transept formed the headquarters of the principal lay organization or confraternity known as Notre-Dame du Puy. The chapel of the confraternity with its sumptuous altar is located to the east of the south transept; the names of the masters of the confraternity are recorded upon marble plaques set into the lower wall on the west side.

Our tour will bring you into the south transept and then in a circuit counter-clockwise around the choir.  Note the spaciousness of the double choir aisle divided by slender piers.  The outer aisle wall was not modified here--you can see the original dado with its trilobed arches and the enormous aisle windows.  Access to the central choir and sanctuary is blocked by an encircling screen (built c1500-1530) with "virtual reality" images telling the story of the arrival of Bishop Firmin in Amiens, his success in preaching and baptizing, his imprisonment and execution. In the second bay we see the miraculous discovery (Invention) of the lost relics of the saint and the triumphant procession bearing the relic box (châsse) back into Amiens.  Visitors following the story are led forward to the point where an openwork gate allows them to gaze in at the principal altar and, directly behind it, a raised tribune carrying the relic boxes (châsses) of the saints with Firmin in the center.  The visitor who remembers the architectural forms of the nave will be struck by the enhanced luminosity of the choir.

The passage from the double choir aisle into the curving corridor (ambulatory) encircling the hemicycle brings constriction of space and awareness of new architectural forms.  Opening from the ambulatory are radiating chapels each with an altar housing relics of the saints.   The interior of the choir chapels was transformed in the 18th and 19th centuries.  The two chapels at each side at the base of the hemicycle retain their original forms: you can see that the dado is no longer the same: the new forms indicate the work of Thomas de Cormont, the second master.   The axial chapel deeper than the others, served as church for parishioners who lived in the area of the cloister.  Continue around the ambulatory (note the episcopal tomb in the axial bay) and emerge into the space of the northern aisles.  On this side the painted sculpture of the lateral screen tells the story of John Baptist.  Like the Saint Firmin story on the other side, the forward-moving (west-to-east) narrative will lead the visitor forward to the decapitation of the saint, at which point a door in the outer wall opens to a staircase to an upstairs chamber where the precious relic was kept.