AMIENS CATHEDRAL IN PERIL

Evening Star, Issue 19000, 23 July 1925, Page 2

AMIENS CATHEDRAL IN PERIL

A grave danger menaces the beautiful Cathedral of Amiens, ho well known ti hundreds of thousands of British soldiers and tourists (says tho ‘ Daily Mail’). A terrific crash was heard in the town, and practically the whole ot the paved square in front of tho cathedral collapsed. There is a great hole 90ft in diameter and 30ft deep in trout of the cathedral, stretching to within a yard or so of the main entrance. Owing to a storm this halo rapidly filled with water. Architects and engineers have been called to examine tho foundations, which arc seriously menaced. Tho local authorities arc at a loss to understand how the subsidence occurred. ft is thought, however, that the cathedral square had probably some centuries ago a. number of cellars underneath the old houses which were then standing almost against the cathedral wails. Amiens Cathedral, tno largest church and one of the noblest Gothic edifices in France, was begun in 1220. During tho war, when Amiens was bombardccl by the Germans, tho cathedral was struck by nine shells.