Laon - Cathedral

In Laon, placed on a ridge and overlooking the flat Picardy plain, St. Remi founded a bishopric in 487. Laon was a very important place in the kingdom of the Franks.

A Carolingian cathedral, consecrated in 800 in the presence of Charlemagne, existed here. The Carolingian structure got replaced two centuries later by a Romanesque structure, consecrated in 1071.

This cathedral was torched by the citizens during the Easter Insurrection on 25 April 1112. Bishop Waldric (aka "Gaudry"), who had served as Lord Chancellor and Lord Keeper of England, from 1103 to 1107 (and described as greedy and very violent) was killed during the uproar. The cathedral got repaired, but in the end demolished to give room for the present cathedral.

The construction began about 1160. The nave was completed after 1205. The "Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Laon", towering over the town, is a wonderful, early example of the Gothic style that developed in Northern France.

So there are a rhino and a hippo on the facade (see previous uploads), but the animals this cathedral is known for are cows. The high regions of the two extraordinary towers are populated by life size 16 cows (or oxes). Nobody knows, what they stand for, there are just theories. But even stranger - these cows migrated!

The towers of the cathedral in Leon were sublime and unique. The workshop, who created these towers were experts erecting filigrane structures in the new (modern) Gothic style.

The workshop moved on - to Bamberg in Germany (700 kms east), where they built copies of these towers and added again cows (named "Domkuehe in Bamberg). Art historians proved, that they even moved on from Bamberg to Naumburg (200kms north/east) when the "Naumburger Dom" was under construction.