Beauvais _ Cathédrale Beauvais © CRTC Hauts-de-France - Comdesimages.com

Visit Beauvais

A charming break among culture and nature

Beauvais is a grandiose city, brimming with culture and character, starting with the grand cathedral and the spectacle of the 50 intricately moving parts of its astronomical clock. Be inspired by the traditional upholstery techniques that have been mastered by local craftspeople and the poetic garden of André Van Beek. Also learn about Jeanne Hachette, a local heroine who used a hatchet to stop an intruder penetrating the city walls. Rewarded by a grateful city, her statue now faces the town hall and radiates across the square as night falls.

Getting there

Northern France _ Beauvais _ Cathedral © CRTC Hauts-de-France - Stéphane Bouilland

A taste of Beauvais - 5 highlights to experience

Beauvais_ La Maladrerie Saint Lazare © Visitbeauvais - Jean François Bouche

La Maladrerie, Medieval and contemporary inspiration

La Maladrerie Saint-Lazare is a former hospital for people with leprosy. Now restored, it brings together two worlds that are inextricably linked: the Medieval, complete with a chapel and a barn with wooden beams some 12 metres high, and contemporary gardens that are an oasis of calm. Take a moment to meditate here among the neatly organised squares of aromatic herbs, cereals, berries, vines and vegetables. Look out in particular for the gardens known as “Marie” or “Cloître” – there is lots here to inspire you.

Saint-Paul _ Jardin du peintre André Van Beek © CRTC Hauts-de-France – Anne Sophie Flament

The garden of painter André Van Beek, a little Giverny

Only 10 minutes by car from Beauvais, Saint-Paul invites you to enter the poetic and artistic world of painter André Van Beek. The artist, whose work is inspired by the post-Impressionist movement, opens his garden to you. Year after year he enriches the garden further, transforming it like a painting that’s in perpetual motion. Like an open-air work, the garden offers a palette of colours that will captivate you in the same way they inspire the artist. Dahlias, hydrangeas, remarkable trees and ponds lined with water lilies accompany you throughout your walk around the garden. Each view is like a painting revealed before your eyes. You’ll continue to enjoy an array of colour when you push open the doors of van Beek’s studio.

Beauvais _ Cathédrale-Saint-Pierre © CRTC Hauts-de-France - Stéphane Bouilland

The Saint Pierre Gothic Cathedral

Its unusual proportions come as a surprise, especially the towering 158-foot (48-metres) chancel, often bathed in colourful light from the magnificent windows.

Find out more

Beauvais _ MUDO _ Salle Mazerolles © Mudo Musée de l'Oise

The Mudo – a journey through the landscapes of France and the Orient

The Mudo – the Museum of Oise – is housed in a former bishop’s palace at the foot of the cathedral. Look for the Renaissance edifice and its two distinguished towers. Let yourself be carried back to the 19th century to painters like Corot and Sisley, whose canvasses beautifully portray the forests of France and frosty winters of Denmark to the evocative Orient. Don’t miss the unfinished canvas of Thomas Couture, which will excite your imagination.

Find out more on the MUDO

Beauvais _ Manufacture Nationale de la Tapisserie © Visitbeauvais - B Hourde

Upholstery, discover know-how passed down over generations

Visit in July and August to take a Manufacture Nationale de la Tapisserie guided tour and be amazed by the weavers keeping alive traditional techniques made famous by manufacturers like Gobelins and Aubusson. As in the 17th and 18th centuries when artists Charles Lebrun and François Boucher were so prevalent, the designs of the modern tapestries are by some of the big-name contemporary artists of the 21st century. Find time, too, to return to the town hall, where you’ll be spellbound by the huge Matisse tapestry.