9/11/17 – Laon, France

Based on the photo on a Carrefour shopping bag, we decided to visit the French town of Laon, about 85 miles NE of Paris. It was our last stop in France as we headed to the Netherlands in preparation for our return home. Laon has an early Gothic cathedral, and evidently we haven’t had our fill of cathedrals yet.
The land north of Paris, the Picardy region, was made up of flat plains and gentle rolling hills used as farmland. On our way we passed the small city of Soisson whose name is of Celtic origin and was conquered by Julius Caesar. It had a great looking dual-spired church that caught our eye (but not our camera).
Laon sits atop a high steep hump of limestone some 330 feet above the surrounding plains. Because of that height, it has been a strategic location since long before Roman times. After Christianity arrived in the 4th century the town gained prominence when an archbishop from Laon baptised Clovis I as the first Christian Frankish king.
The city and surrounding area played a part in the history of the Merovingian, Carolingian, Capetian and Bourbon royal dynasties (kings & queens from all those dynasties are buried in St. Denis). A courtyard called the Dauphine Courtyard once belonged to an inn where King Louis XIII and his queen stayed and where it is suspected that the Sun King – Louis XIV was conceived. Below the city, in a forest not too far off, legend says that Pepin le Bref and his wife Bertrada au Grand Pied conceived Charlemagne. (My translation of the French names is: Pepin the Short and his wife Berthe Big Foot. What a pair!)
I find this rich history amazing since I never heard of the place, except for a photo on a supermarket bag.
We camped at the base of the hill in an oak woods and took a bus up to the city.
The medieval town is still intact with walls encircling it.

We came for the cathedral but enjoyed walking down the narrow streets and seeing the decorative signs hanging from the storefronts, describing the business within. The last time we saw so many different signs was at Colmar in the Alsace-Lorraine.

The cathedral – another one dedicated to Mary – was completed in 1235AD. It has five towers (usually we only see two).

The two on the western front have sixteen stone oxen looking down on square below with gargoyles above them. These oxen are said to be some of the finest examples of 12th century animal sculpture.

 

The cathedral has four rose windows.The lovely rose window on the eastern façade behind the main alter is dedicated to Mary. Beneath it are three lancet windows, each telling the stories of Mary, Jesus and Saints Stephen and Theophile. Another rose window represents the sciences as understood in the 13th century: Philosophy, Arithmetic, Rhetoric, Grammer, Dialectic, Astronomy, Medicine, Geometry and Music. This is the first rose window I have seen that isn’t dedicated to a religious theme.

The western rose window is hidden behind a great organ installed at a much later date. The organ is interesting because it has large carved human figures holding up organ pipes. We’ve only seen one other organ with similar carvings, so they are not common.

There are a lot of chapels off the sides of the lengthy nave. In one of the chapels is an iconographic painting of Jesus, purchased in Italy in 1249AD by the archdiocese of Laon. Besides the cathedral there were 3-4 other churches in the city that were active during the same timespan as the cathedral, all in the relatively small area that made up the city. Seems to me like a lot of religious competition.

We finished our walkabout with lunch at one of three kebab restaurants in town and returned to our bus stop and the campsite.

Quite like Fougeres, this city is still undiscovered. No tourist buses and no hordes to contend with. It was a great stop, and all because of a shopping bag.