Albert (formerly Encre or Ancre) is a French commune located in the department of the Somme in the Hauts-de-France region. It is the third city of the department by its population after Amiens and Abbeville. Albert is the seat of the community of communes of the Poppy Country and the main industrial city of the Anchor valley.
Notre Dame Cathedral
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Brebières d'Albert (Somme) was
built at the end of the 19th century. Its original architecture
makes it a major building in the religious heritage of Picardy,
classified as a historical monument.
Construction
Notre-Dame-de-Brebières has been one of the high places of Marian
worship in Picardy since the 11th and 12th centuries. At the end of
the nineteenth century, the pilgrimage experienced a renewed fervor
with the whole of Marian devotion (as in La Salette and Lourdes).
The Notre-Dame de Brebières basilica was built at the
instigation of Anicet Godin, priest-dean of Albert from 1882 to
1913. It replaced the parish church, built after the fire of 1660
and completed in 1705. It became too small to accommodate the
growing number of faithful due to the development of the city during
the industrial revolution, it was decided to destroy the existing
church and build a new one.
In 1895, at the time of its
inauguration, Pope Leo XIII conferred the honorary title of minor
basilica on the new church. He specified in his papal bull his
ambition for the basilica: "Albert would have to become the Lourdes
of the North".
The construction of the basilica required the
concreting of the bed of the Anchor which runs under the choir over
a length of twenty-seven meters. The elevation was carried out on
the plans of the architect Edmond Duthoit from 1885 to 1897. After
his death in 1889, the management of the work was entrusted to Henri
Bernard, his main collaborator. The steeple-porch, 62 m high, was
surmounted by a dome bearing a golden statue of the Virgin which
rises to 82 m, the work of Albert Roze, sculptor from Amiens.
Destruction
Albert's basilica was completely destroyed during
the Great War. In 1915, a shell hit the dome supporting the statue,
which bowed, but remained in a precarious and impressive balance.
This event gave birth to a legend: “When the Virgin of Albert falls,
the War will end. Said Hairy and Tommies. The photograph of this
destroyed basilica and its “Leaning Virgin” was sent across the
world by soldiers to their families - as a postcard - and
contributed to its global fame. In April 1918, during the last
German offensive, the Battle of the Kaiser, the basilica was
destroyed by shells and the statue of the Golden Virgin crashed to
the ground.
Reconstruction
The basilica was rebuilt
identically by the architect Louis Duthoit, son of Edmond Duthoit,
between 1927 and 1931. The interior decoration partly resumed the
original decoration.
The bell tower has been redone
identically. A replica of the “Golden Virgin”, also by Albert Roze,
was re-installed during the reconstruction of the building from 1927
to 1929. The roof of the dome and the gilding of the statue were
recently restored.
Centenary of the Battle of the Somme
As
part of the ceremonies commemorating the centenary of the Battle of
the Somme, the American singer Barbara Hendricks gave a Peace
Concert accompanied by the Orchester de Picardie, on Friday July 1,
2016 at 10 p.m. at the Basilica of Albert.
Architecture and
decor
Architecture
The Notre-Dame de Brebières basilica is an
example of a neo-Byzantine style building. This vast brick building
was built from 1885 to 1897 by the Picard Edmond Duthoit, architect
and orientalist who defined his work as follows:
“The
architecture of Albert's Church is the synthesis of what I have
seen: my bell tower is a minaret from Tlemcen or Seville. On the
palaces of Siena or Florence, we see consoles which terribly
resemble the cornices of the new church; those of the apses, with
their semi-domes and their corbels, are from Syria, the upper
skeleton is found in all the basilicas of Syria, Italy, Sicily and
Corsica. The large horseshoe arches, which separate the aisles from
the main nave, are taken from the great mosque of Tlemcen. The
Kairouan mosque provided me with the arrangement of the cutters and
capitals, my portal will recall the arrangements that I admired at
the Tunis mosque. Finally, I will be happy that when looking at the
decoration of the apse, the tourist thinks of that of the church of
Monreale, near Palermo. I cannot give a name to this mixture; all
these elements that compose it are good: may their combination not
be unpleasant to visitors !. "
The main facade is formed by a
porch with three portals located under the bell tower.
The floor
and the facade are decorated with mosaics.
The bell tower-porch rises to 76 m. Its upper part is composed of
a dome bearing a virgin covered with 40,000 gold leaves, six meters
high (work of Albert Roze), presenting the Child Jesus: the arms of
the child form a cross. The dome was made in the Monduit workshops.
An outdoor gallery located sixty meters above the ground allows you
to walk around the bell tower and offers a remarkable view of the
city and its surroundings.
The plan of the building is
reminiscent of that of the first Christian basilicas with a large
apse formed by a raised chapel and framed by two apses resting on
either side on the transept also terminated on the north and south
by two apsidioles. .
The crossing of the transept is surmounted
by a small quadrangular lantern tower.
A five-bay nave flanked by
two side aisles extends the building. Each of the bays communicates
with the aisles which open on each side onto five chapels.
A
decorated frame and a coffered ceiling replace the traditional
vaults.
The length of the building is 70 m, its width is 35 m at
the transept. The ceiling height is 23 m.
Prehistory
A tumulus known under the name of Minon Castel,
located near Albert, coming from Amiens, tends to prove the
existence of human occupation of the site of Albert, in the
Neolithic period.
Antiquity
The Roman road linking
Samarobriva (Amiens) to Bagacum Nerviorum (Bavay) passed through the
site on which the city of Albert was built. Substructions near the
Roman road were found 2 km from downtown Albert.
Middle Ages
There is no trace, in ancient texts, of the existence of a place
called Ink, before the High Middle Ages.
Early Middle Ages,
Encre comes out of anonymity
In 1840, a group of tombs was
discovered in the communal cemetery during work carried out to
enlarge the floor of the church, but did not give rise to any
archaeological observation. During the construction of the basilica,
at the level of the bell tower and the portal, Émile Comte, assisted
by Charles Joseph Pinsard, excavated about fifteen tombs in 1894.
More than ten objects: bronze basin and handles, two ceramics , two
spears, an iron dagger and knives, a copper wire necklace and iron
beads, two casket fragments were dated to the 7th and 7th century,
other isolated objects from the same period were discovered in the
cemetery .
The Valois
Until the end of the fourteenth
century, kings often united the States-General in Compiègne. In
1358, the regent Charles reunited the States of Langue d'oïl there
to re-establish royal authority in the face of Etienne Marcel's
intrigues. In 1374, he began the construction of a new castle on the
current site of the Palace. Compiègne is now a royal residence and
court residence, and receives the visit of many princes.
Compiègne saw the birth of Pierre d'Ailly, cardinal-bishop of
Cambrai, chancellor of the University of Paris, diplomat who helped
put an end to the Great Western Schism, author of several scholarly
works. One of his works enabled Christopher Columbus to prepare for
the discovery of America.
During the Hundred Years War,
Compiègne was besieged and taken several times by the Burgundians.
She embraced for some time the party of the King of England. But
from the coronation of Charles VII, she once again becomes faithful
to the King of France. The most memorable of these sieges is that of
1430 when Joan of Arc, rushing to the city to defend it, fell on May
23 into the hands of the Burgundians, during an outing on the right
bank of the Oise and was sold to the English. This siege resulted in
extensive destruction as a result of the bombardments, a decline in
the population and impoverishment of the inhabitants. The wars led
by Louis XI still result in additional charges (fortifications,
housing for warriors), heavier taxes and forced loans, and it will
be necessary to wait for the reign of Charles VIII to undertake
reconstruction, relaunch the activity and regain the pre-war
population.
Since then, the kings of France continued to
reside often in Compiègne and made a habit of stopping there on
their return to be crowned in Reims, as Charles VII had done,
accompanied by Joan of Arc, in 1429.
The restoration of
Compiègne was marked by the reconstruction of the town hall during
the first third of the sixteenth century, symbol of the city. The
belfry is decorated with three Picantins representing English,
Flemish and Burgundian prisoners who strike the hours on the bells.
Kings still made short stays from Francis I to Henry IV.
Compiègne was a royal city, its deputy governors were appointed with
the advice of the king, taxes, duties and loans were due to the king
and the passing regiments were housed with the inhabitants. During
the wars of religion, Compiègne remained Catholic, faithful to the
royalty and in return benefited from some advantages from the
sovereigns. The Edict of Compiègne of 1547 reserving for secular
courts the judgment of Protestants as soon as there is a public
scandal, is one of the first stages of the repression against the
Huguenots.
The population and administration of Compiègne in
1627
The royal administration is in Compiègne, a city of 8,000
inhabitants, according to Arthur de Marsy's census, and in the
vicinity of the city, which is not very important, as indeed in all
the cities of the kingdom.
A few notables (doctors, surgeons, etc.) are classified among
them. On the other hand, merchants, industrialists, tavern keepers
and craftsmen are classified in another category: Businesses and
various industries. This category extends to mariners and ploughmen,
winegrowers and gardeners.
The first order is also classified
separately. Arthur de Marsy, author of a census in 1627 Marsy gives
only the figures of the members of the secular clergy by parish:
- Saint-Jacques: 12;
- Saint-Antoine: 6;
- Saint-Germain: 2;
- Saint-Jehan le Petit: 1.
Of the 83 schoolteachers, 29 are
clergymen. But the number of regular clergy in the institutions
remains the great unknown. The number of the poor and that of the
beggars is 320, a small figure, if we compare it with the situation
of Châteauroux which in 1789 with 7,000 inhabitants had to help
3,000 unfortunate people mainly from the Massif Central. On the
other hand, it is higher than that of the poor around 1760 in
Morlaix, a town of 10,000 inhabitants which is 100.
The
Bourbon
The first and second treaties were concluded there with
the Republic of Genoa for the reunification of Corsica with France
in 1756 and 1764. In 1770, Louis XV and the Dauphin welcomed
Marie-Antoinette to the castle when she arrived in France.
Revolution and Empire
In 1790, the department of Oise is after
the dismantling of the former province of Île-de-France. In 1794,
the sixteen Carmelite sisters of Compiègne were tried and
guillotined. Georges Bernanos was inspired by their history to write
his play Dialogues des Carmélites.
In 1804, the Château de
Compiègne joined the imperial domain. King Charles IV of Spain,
having just abdicated, was lodged there by Napoleon from June 18 to
September 18, 1808. In March 1810, the Emperor met Marie-Louise of
Austria there for the first time.
On March 15, 1814, the
Prussians attacked the city via the Noyon road.
Restoration,
Second Empire and Third Republic
On August 9, 1832, the marriage
of Louise-Marie d'Orléans (daughter of King Louis-Philippe I) to the
King of the Belgians, Leopold I, was celebrated at the château.
Napoleon III stayed there frequently from 1856 to 1869 to enjoy the
Forest of Compiègne
Compiègne hosts the golf events of the
1900 Summer Olympics on the grounds of the Société des sports de
Compiègne.
First World War
General Pétain moved his
headquarters to the castle from April 5, 1917 to March 25, 1918.
Several allied conferences were held there. On March 25, 1918,
during the spring offensive, a crisis meeting brought together
Georges Clemenceau, Raymond Poincaré, Louis Loucheur, Henri Mordacq,
Ferdinand Foch and Philippe Pétain in the town, in order to organize
the defense of the front line with the British.
On November
11, 1918, in the national forest of Compiègne, in a wagon in the
middle of a forest, near Rethondes, the Armistice of 1918 was signed
between France and Germany in the presence of Marshal Foch and
General Weygand.
Second World War
In the same place, in
the meantime arranged in a clearing known as the Rethondes clearing
or the Armistice clearing, and in the same wagon as in 1918, is
signed the Armistice of June 22, 1940 between France, represented by
the delegation sent by Marshal Pétain and chaired by General
Huntziger, and Germany represented by Marshal Keitel. Adolf Hitler
and many German dignitaries were present the day before, the
inaugural day of the Armistice negotiations.
During the
Occupation, the Nazis set up a transit and internment camp from June
1941 to August 1944 in Royallieu. The first train of political
deportees left the Royallieu camp for that of Auschwitz on July 6,
1942. At this location on February 23, 2008, the “Memorial of the
internment and deportation” was inaugurated.
One of the very
first armed groups of the French resistance, the “groupe de
Compiègne”, was born in the Oise in February 1941. Allied to Combat
Zone Nord, its militants were mostly arrested as of March 3, 1942
and deported. in Germany from where very few have returned.
Post-World War II
The creation of the Picardy region by decree of
June 2, 1960), incorporates the department of Oise. Let us recall
that until 1790, year of the dismantling of the old provinces of
France, Compiègne was located in the French royal domain or province
of Île-de-France and not in Picardy.
In 1972, the University
of Technology of Compiègne was created.