Tallest nave in a French Gothic cathedral, the vaults of Amiens rise 139 feet [42 meters]. Commenced in A.D. 1220 by Robert de Luzarches, the nave took 16 years to complete.

The city of Amiens was a commune, a status conveying municipal independence under the feudal system. By definition the seat of a bishop, cathedrals were built with funds often donated largely by nobles and merchants. At Amiens merchant wealth came from two main sources: wind and woad, a plant used to make a blue dye popular throughout Europe.

— From "The Gothic Revolution," July 1989, National Geographic magazine