18 Aug 2012 – In Beauvais/France

Beauvais, a city of 59,000 people, is located about 54 miles north of Paris in the Picardy region of Northern France, famous for its cathedrals, its role in World War I and its chateaux/castles. It is also known for its dairy and beef cattle.

S-Etienne/St Stephen’s Church is located outside the old Roman city walls in the area of the necropolis. This church progressed from Romanesque to the gothic style. These stained-glass windows are thought to be the works of the famous Le Prince family of master glazier.

Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Beauvais/Cathedral of St Peter of Beauvais is an incomplete Roman Catholic cathedral is the seat of the Bishop of Beauvais, Noyon and Senlis. It is, in some respects, the most daring achievement of Gothic architecture, and consists only of a transept (6thC) and choir, with apse and seven polygonal apsidal chapels (13thC), which are reached by an ambulatory.

Several of the chapels contain medieval stained glass windows made during the 13th thru’ 15th Cs.There is a medieval clock (14th-15thC), probably the oldest fully preserved and functioning mechanical clock in Europe, a highly complicated astronomical clock with moving figures was installed in 1866.

Le Musée départemental de l’Oise/Museum of the Oise Department is in the former Palace of the Bishops-Counts of Beauvais at the foot of the cathedral. This remarkable architectural, historical monument, has a 14thC gatehouse.

Galerie nationale de la Tapisserie/National Tapestry Gallery. For 3 centuries, Beauvais has been synonymous with the history of tapestry.

To be edited and updated with more pix…