My wife and I believe that, along with Chartres, Laon Cathedral is one of the most beautiful in France. We stopped there several times. Was it its silhouette perched atop a hill, visible from afar? Was it the oxen carved into the towers? The elegant soaring of the central nave? The atmosphere of relative abandonment of the town? Or the way you have to walk up its main street to discover it? Perhaps a little of all of that...

As I am the first WHS member to write on the subject, a brief historical overview is in order The construction of Notre Dame Cathedral in Laon began around 1160 AD and was completed around the first quarter of the 13th century. We are in the early Gothic period; it would be the second Gothic cathedral built in France after the choir of Saint-Denis north of Paris.

The sculptures that adorn it were reworked in the 19th century because they had been badly damaged during the French Revolution. I also remember photos of the cathedral at the end of the First World War, taken from a side aisle. It apparently wasn't as heavily bombed as Reims or Soissons Cathedrals...

The cathedral was built all at once. This probably explains its perfect homogeneity and harmony. The 6 towers, including a lantern tower above the crossing of the transept and the nave, are said to have been built by the architect Villard de Honnecourt, a Picard who kept a sketchbook with him during his many journeys, from Chartres to Amiens via Hungary. This document has come down to us. Local legend tells of a miraculous ox that lent a hand to the workers to carry the stones in a cart by taking the place of a fellow ox that died on the job, and in gratitude, Villard de Honnecourt had them sculpted.

The city of Laon itself, built on a limestone spur, was an episcopal city, like Albi, until the French Revolution. The buildings of the episcopal palace still exist, and some vestiges of the old ramparts remain, including a fortified gate. There was also a hospital, similar to the one in Beaune.

What strikes you at first glance is its homogeneity and soaring height, despite its almost Romanesque appearance, as its construction is one of the first attempts at verticality characteristic of Gothic cathedrals. Is it the openwork towers decorated with those famous oxen that watch you and whose silhouettes stand out against the sky that you remember the most? Undoubtedly, but the abundant interior light of the central nave is just as striking.

During our visit, a seminarian spontaneously offered to translate in detail the scenes sculpted on the portals. We warmly and graciously thanked him for his assistance. Such initiatives should be supported.

From a practical point of view, there's a campsite just below the hill to the south where we left Wilson II to rest, and from where it's possible to walk or cycle up to the town. From there, it's also possible to visit some World War I cemeteries WHS located not too far away, south of Laon.