Doullens
This is Doullens
THE MAIRY Located on the site of the former Abbey of Saint-Michel, the town hall of Doullens was built in 1898 on the plans of the architect Anatole Bienaimé. During the First World War, on March 26, 1918, in a room located on the second floor, a decisive meeting was held for the Allied armies and the continuation of the war against the German Empire. The "Single Command Room" is a large space with a white marble fireplace and a voluminous chandelier on the ceiling. A commemorative stained glass window was designed by Gérard Ansart, it was made by the master glassmaker Jean Gaudin in 19374. Lucien Jonas produced two canvases commemorating the event in 1936-1938. Bronze busts representing Clemenceau and Lord Milner, made in 1918 by François Sicard and various objects are exhibited in this room.
The Museum m
This building is located in a pleasure garden where the plantations are adorned with stone statues and the marmoset well whose curbstone dates back to the 17th century. The museum extends into the chapel of the Sisters of Louvencourt2, built in brick, dating from the 1840s and in neo-gothic style, which adjoins the main building3. The Lombart Museum is protected as a historical monument by order of July 5, 2012 .
THE CITADELLE Following the War of the Burgundian Succession at the end of the 15th century, Doullens became a French border town facing the Artois. In 1523, the French artillery was placed on an entrenchment of land that Antoine de CrÊquy had raised to hold the Spanish troops in respect. In order to protect this border, King François I decided, in 1530, to build a citadel in Doullens. The creation of the citadel took place during the 15th and 16th centuries in a period of confrontation between the kingdom of France and the Dukes of Burgundy. It is from the top of the ramparts that Albertine Sarrazin, famous writer, escaped in April 1957. She told the story of this escape in her novel L'Astragale.
THE BELLHOUSE In 1286, the commune of Doullens acquired the seigneurial tower to make its belfry. The belfry was destroyed several times by fire and was rebuilt each time. The last Doullens and its belfry were visited reconstruction dates from 1613. by eminent people such as: the Cardinal of Richelieu and Louis XIII during the siege of Arras in 1640 or Louis XIV and the Dauphin who stayed there in 1678 . The 28 m high belfry of Doullens surmounts the old communal house. It is built in brick and stone like many monuments of Picardy in the 17th and 18th centuries. It has a somewhat leaning look and its original top shelters the watchman's guardhouse covered with slate.
THE CHURCH NOTRE-DAME It was Thomas Becket who, passing through Doullens, consecrated the church of Notre-Dame in 1170. In 1522 the building was burnt down by the Imperials, and in 1595 it was used as a refuge for the population during the Spanish invasion. In 1721, the choir was rebuilt after its collapse. The western faรงade, which was decorated with three portals with statues and flanked by two towers, with an arrow that stood in the square of the transept, was demolished during the French Revolution1. The sacristy was destroyed in 1932. Inside, in the Chapel of St. Nicholas, there is a Renaissance Entombment with bas-relief decoration, dated 15824. This culpted group has been classified as a historical monument since June 4, 1865.
A 19th century sculpted group representing the Assumption of the Virgin has been protected as a historical monument as an object since February 28, 1906.
THE CHURCH OF SAINTPIERRE St. Peter's Church was built at the beginning of the 13th century and was completed in the 1220's. It was rebuilt during the Renaissance, but the French Revolution was fatal to it. Sold as a national asset, it lost its choir and its transept, its glass roof and its furniture.
It suffered destruction and was used as a shed, workshop ... The building narrowly escaped demolition in 1912 during a street realignment and then again in 1924 with a decision to purchase the city council to destroy it. The militant action of the association of the Friends of the Old Doullens saved what was left of the building1. The remains of the church are protected as historical monuments: classification by decree of September 4, 1942.