Don’t miss the spectacular “Cathedral in Colour” spectacle in Amiens – and it’s free
This is really one of northern France’s most amazing spectacles when the front porch of Amiens’ 12thC Gothic Cathedral is once more ‘clad’ in the bright vibrant colours with which the outdoor statuary was painted in the early Middle Ages.
All done simply through computer-generated light projection, so the original stonework remains unharmed.
It is as darkness falls, from Sunday 15 June right through to Sunday 21 September 2008, that the extraordinary display begins in the front of Amiens’ Notre Dame Cathedral (the ‘parvis’), lasting about 40 minutes. The very latest projection techniques of high definition digital colour images are used, bringing the stone statues back to life to tell their biblical stories. When this world famous gothic Cathedral was built (1220-1280), most people could neither read nor write. Painted stone carvings were a means of communicating and involving worshippers in the history of their faith.
Amiens Cathedral is twice over a UNESCO World Heritage Monument, first registered in 1981 as a landmark site in gothic architecture and again in 1998, the latter as a stage on the pilgrim routes to Santiago. Given Amiens’ location in Picardy in northern France, many English pilgrims would have passed by.
The Cathedral in coulour show starts at:
10.45pm throughout June
10.30pm throughout July
10pm throughout August
9.45pm throughout September
Amiens is an effortless 1hr 45mins drive from Dunkerque, virtually all by motorway. There’s ample parking in the town centre. Find out more about Amiens.
Our ferries to Amiens
Norfolkline provides ferry services to Dunkerque from Dover with a crossing time of under 2 hours with up to 12 ferry sailings per day in both directions. Our full sailing schedule between Dunkerque and Dover is presented in the routes section.
We offer great ferry fares and have regular special offers, so book a great value ferry fare between Dover and Dunkerque online with Norfolkline.
Distance from the port of Dunkerque: about 190km door to door, in just a couple of hours.