Every design for Amiens

Amiens is known first for its cathedral: the Cathédrale Notre-Dame is the largest Gothic cathedral in France and still towers over everything else in the city. Close behind come the hortillonnages, floating market gardens laced with canals, and Jules Verne, who lived here for more than three decades and sat on the city council; the Maison Jules Verne keeps his memory alive.

The city stands in northern France, north of Paris and south-west of Lille, on the Somme where the river narrows at the edge of the Picardy plateau. Its canals have earned it the nickname "little Venice of the North". Rebuilt after the Second World War with wider streets, it gained a new station and the Tour Perret by Auguste Perret, while Saint-Leu kept its old waterside lanes.

Anyone who grew up here can find their way on the map: along the Somme, past the Musée de Picardie, out to the Parc de la Hotoie, with a box of macarons d'Amiens from the Christmas market still in mind.