Amiens Cathedral

On the occasion of St. John's Day, my husband and I went to meet my sister, her boyfriend and two friends in Amiens, a quaint town about one hour by train from Paris. The highlight of Amiens is its cathedral, the tallest and the largest classic Gothic church of the 13th century in France, classified by UNESCO as a world heritage site. Recent research has revealed that its principal facade was originally painted. Using laser projectors, those surprising colors are recreated during a bilingual narrated light and sounds show. During middle ages, the materials to produce colors were brought from foreign lands so the colors were considered valuable since they were not easily available. It was fascinating to learn the symbolism of colors. For example, blue used to have the symbolic meaning of virginity or devotion to St. Mary (see more information in French on the meaning of colors).