Capital of maritime Picardy, the city of Abbeville boasts a magnificent building of Flamboyant Gothic style, the Saint-Vulfran collegiate church, with a magnificent carved facade.

Abbeville is a commune in the Somme department and in Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It is the chef-lieu of one of the arrondissements of Somme. Located on the River Somme, it was the capital of Ponthieu. Its inhabitants are called the Abbevillois.

Culture and Sights

Places and monuments 

Main article: List of historic monuments in Abbeville .Collegiate Church of Saint-Vulfran .The belfry and the Boucher-de-Perthes museum. The picturesque side of the city center, with the streets lined with old houses radiating towards Saint-Vulfran, has only been a ghost since the Second World War. However, some buildings have been preserved after “some” restorations.

Religious buildings

• Parvis Saint-Vulfran. Built in 1488 , a masterpiece of flamboyant Gothic art for which the city is famous. Its patron saint (celebrated on March 20) is Saint Wulfran de Fontenelle , born around 650, in Milly-la-Forêt (Gâtinais), lord at the court of Clotaire III , abbot of Fontenelle, archbishop of Sens in 682, evangelizer of the Frieze . He died in 720 in Saint-Wandrille . 
• The Holy Sepulcher Church of Abbeville, rue Saint Sepulcher. Ranked MH ( 1907 ) is a collegiate Gothic of the xi ^th  century . Since 1993, it has housed thirty-one stained-glass windows designed by Alfred Manessier .
• The Church of Our Lady of the Chapel Lane.
• The Saint-Gilles church , rue Saint-Gilles,  Inscribed MH ( 1926 ) .
• The church of Saint-Silvin de Mautort , rue de l’Église.
• The Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Rouvroy church , Chaussée de Rouvroy, built in brick, and which has a bell tower with an eccentric clock .
• The Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul d’Abbeville priory , rue Clémenceau, with chapel, Inscribed MH ( 1993 , Façades, roofs) .
• The Saint-Jacques church , Place Saint-Jacques, which was built in the neo-Gothic style by the architect Victor Delefortrie . Poorly maintained, the February 7 , 2013, the city council votes for its demolition, despite a certain wave of protest. Said demolition was completed in May of the same year.
• Saint-Paul church, Chaussée d’Hocquet (remains).
• Carmel d’Abbeville , rue des Capucins.
• The chapel of the Hôtel-Dieu, rue de l’Isle.
• The chapel of the Hospice Général, rue Dumont.
• The Saint-Milfort chapel, rue Georges Deray.
• The former Notre-Dame de Willencourt abbey , Chaussée Marchadé.
• The Ursuline convent, rue Josse Van Robais (remains of the gate).
• The Jean-Paul II chapel, rue Jean Moulin (modern).
• The Evangelical Protestant Church, Chaussée du Bois.
• The Jehovah’s Witnesses Room, route de Paris.

The theater 

Built in 1911 , the theater is one of the few in the region that has an Italian hall.  Listed MH ( 2003 ) .

The belfry 

Listed as World Heritage ( 2005 ) , Listed MH ( 1926 ) one of the oldest in France, built in 1209. On May 20, 1940, during a bombardment, its roof was damaged and it was not until 1986 that it was redone. The Belfry is one of fifty six belfries of Belgium and France registered in 2005 by the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO , on the list of World Heritage of Humanity, and hosts the museum of the city since 1954 .

Boucher-de-Perthes Museum 

Place Max-Lejeune in the heart of Abbeville.Main article: Boucher-de-Perthes Museum . Boucher de Perthes museum is located partly in the old belfry of the xiii ^th  century (inscribed on the World Heritage List ).

Bagatelle castle 

Madness built in 1752 by Josse Van Robais. Inscribed MH ( 1926 ) the Regular Garden and the Inscribed Park MH ( 1946 ) .

Archaeological sites

• Carpentier quarry  : ancient Palaeolithic archaeological site 
• Menchecourt quarry  : ancient Palaeolithic archaeological site 
• Moulin Quignon  : archaeological site of the ancient Paleolithic

Monument La Barre 

The La Barre monument was erected in 1907 by public subscription, in commemoration of the martyrdom of the Chevalier de La Barre . Placed near the station, next to the bridge over the Somme Canal, the La Barre monument is an annual rallying point, on the first Sunday in July, for defenders of secularism and free thinkers.

Other memorials 

• Monument to the dead of the war of 1870 , due to an Alsatian, Xavier Niessen , founder of the Souvenir français.
• Monument to Admiral Courbet , work of Alexandre Falguière and Antonin Mercié .
• Monument to the fallen of the Great War , Les Patrouilleurs sculpture by Louis Leclabart. Made of Lavoux stone, the sculpture represents a trenches scene. The monument was inaugurated in 1923 by Marshal Foch .

Parks and public gardens 

• The Jardin d’Emonville in which the Robert-Mallet municipal library is located as well as the municipal archives service owes its name to one of its owners Arthur Foulques d’Emonville, a botany lover who had bought part of the Saint-Priory. Pierre-et-Saint-Paul d’Abbeville , to develop a garden and build a private mansion there. The main entrance to the garden is a vestige of the priory.
• Carmel and its gardens
• The municipal park of La Bouvaque

Other monuments 

• The hotel de Rambures from the 18th ^century , 
• The Hôtel de Buigny,
• The “regional seaside” style Abbeville station is built around a wooden frame with red brick facing, 
• The Abbeville baths-showers , built in 1909-1910 by the Caisse d’épargne on the plans of the architects Greux and Marchand. The sculptures are by Henri Louis Leclabart (1876 – 1929), author of the monument to the dead of Abbeville and that of the Delique stadium. 
• In the city center, a dozen old houses dating from the xvi ^th , xvii ^th and xviii ^th  centuries.
• The town hall, inaugurated in 1960.

Culture 

Miniature of Saint Matthew, Gospel Book of Saint-Riquier , municipal library, ms. 4.

• Municipal Theater , built in 1911 .
• Conservatory with intercommunal influence of the Abbevillois (music and dance).
• Robert-Mallet municipal library  : it preserves a heritage fund made up in particular from collections from former monastic establishments in the area, including 972 manuscripts. Among these is a Carolingian Gospel book executed around 790-800 at the court of Charlemagne.
• Boucher-de-Perthes Museum , labeled Musée de France .
• Abbeville emulation society .

Games 

• EPM-Echiquier de Picardie Maritime (chess club).
• Club Poker (PCA Poker Club Abbeville) club who finished 1 ^st in the Team Poker Championships in France (CNEC).