The dome of Albert's basilica, with its gilded statue of the Virgin towering above the countryside, reminds us of the endless gun fire which would destroy this town on the home front, occupied by the British. The imposing silhouette of the Thiepval memorial evokes the butchery that took place in the marshes; the Terre-Neuvien national park, the trenches; Pozières, the first tanks ; Cappy and Bray, the memory of Cendrars and Duhamel, and moving the wounded through the Somme…

Monuments, cemeteries, the Somme 1916 museum… Reminders of the past are everywhere. And yet, there is a sense of calmness here.

That of a country rebuilt with its architecture from the interwar years and its recaptured landscapes. A thick carpet of lawn has covered these places of the memory, the only battles now witnessed by the Somme and Ancre rivers are those between fishermen and fish… And Albert can proudly display its motto "Vis mea ferum", iron is my strength without it evoking today anything other than civil aviation and machine tools.

Albert
There are pictures which travel the world: that of the gilded statue of the Virgin of Albert's basilica, which was hit by German shells but left leaning over the destroyed town, is one of them.

Town of the British home front, Albert keeps alive the memory of the tommies and still resonates to the sound of the bagpipes.

A Potez 36, hanging in the hall of the train station, reminds us also that the the village of Ancre was a cradle of the aviation industry. This activity remains predominant today with the Aérospatiale factories situated in the neighbouring town of Méaulte, created by Henri Potez, a native of the region.

To discover
La Basilique Notre Dame de Brebières **

Seventy metres high, it towers above the town with its dome gilded with fine gold. Built in the Neo-Byzantine style, between 1885 and 1895, it was destroyed in 1915 and rebuilt in its original style in 1926.

Somme 1916 museum **
Created in old underground passages, transformed into air-raid shelters in the interwar period, it displays in a moving and realistic way scenes from life in the trenches.

Town hall *
Completed in 1932 and of Neo-Flemish architecture, it has an interesting Art Deco interior design, and in particular some beautiful stained-glass windows by the master glazier Tambouret. A number of commemorative plaques recall the Great War.

The train station and the Potez 36
Of Neo-Flemish architecture, it was recently refurbished. A Potez 36 airplane hangs in the hall, in hommage to the town's aviation tradition and to the region's native son.

Walks in the surrounding area
Battlefields of the Somme ****

Le belvédère de Vaux
The Notre-Dame de Vaux viewing point offers a superb view of the interlacing of the branches of the Somme which blend with the plant life on the valley floor.

The Haute Somme miniature train - Froissy.

Walkers, strollers and nature lovers should not miss a ride on board the Haute Somme miniature train. Across high plateaux, forests, pastures, villages, wild ponds and banks of the Somme, you will discover nature in its purest state. Lovers of old-fashioned local trains will be delighted: a tunnel, a high bridge, a Z-bend and forest slope, not to mention the old wooden seats, the jolts and maybe even a few bits of grit… It's a long time, however, since the train transported the poilus (French soldiers) in the Great war!

Mailly-Maillet

The old funeral chapel of the lords of Mailly, is under restoration. It is a large raised brick and stone octagon built in 1753. A wooded avenue stands opposite, which connected it to the castle.

Saint-Pierre church, built in the XVth century, restored in the XVIIth, XVIIIth and XIXth centuries and after 1918, has kept the main part of its "picture facade", erected at the beginning of the XVIth century.

On the left of the gate, a bas relief depicts the donor Isabeau d’Ailly in prayer, granddaughter of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, and wife of Jean III of Mailly.

The gate itself is decorated with statues. The large picture above it illustrates scenes from the Old Testament (Adam and Eve, the killing of Abel, the building of the Tower of Babel...)

A bit of history
The town of Ancre belonged to Belgian Gaul. It was then allocated by King Dagobert to Saint-Riquier abbey. Incorporated into the royal domain by Hugues Capet, it was then fortified.

Its location has caused it to be the reason for many conflicts and to become the possession of some illustrious lords. It has observed the passage of the Burgundians during the Hundred Years War, François 1, Charles V who burned the town in 1523, and Henri IV.v

Bought by Concini in 1610, who as a result became Marshal of Ancre, the town was given by Louis XIII to his favourite Charles d’Albert de Luynes when the Italian was assassinated in 1617.

It was in 1620 that the new Marshal of Ancre gave his name to the town.

The town suffered once again suffered the Spanish invasion in 1636; it was bought by the Count of Toulouse, son of Mme de Montespan and Louis XIV, in 1695. It then passed into the possession of the Orléans family.

A period of prosperity opened up for the town in the XIXth century with the arrival of the railway on the Paris-Lille line from 1846.

History tells us that the Empress Eugenia of Montijo, come to inaugurate the station, had received a bouquet of flowers from the children of the town. She then threw it into the wood at Aveluy, not long after boarding the train, thereby fuelling anti-bonapartist feeling amongst the people.

It was here in the XIXth century that a large engineering and metal construction business was born which would make the town the machine tools capital.

It was also here in the XIXth century that the architect Duthoit built the Neo-Byzantine basilica to house a XIVth century statue of Our Lady of Brebières, commemorating the vision of the Virgin Mary, which had been a place of pilgrimage since the Xth century.

The Great War completely destroyed the town once again and the basilica was rebuilt in its original style. Its wealth enabled it to build the imposing Neo-Flemish town hall as well as a number of public and private buildings in Art Deco style. It was at this time that Albert became the capital of the aviation industry, when Henri Potez, a native of the region, built his workshops there, which were the biggest in Europe at the time, employing 3200 workers.

After the Second World War, military security reasons which strengthened Toulouse as the centre of the industry, well away from borders, as well as the relative decline of the aircraft manufacturer, created a new order which reduced Albert's role in France's aviation industry. Machine tools manufacture with its plant in Méaulte became the town's principal economic driving force. This sector was in its turn affected in the 1980s, but the town's business activity is still dominated by engineering, the metallurgical industry and the recent expansion of its hydraulics plant. Achetée par Concini en 1610, qui par l’occasion devient Maréchal d’Ancre, la ville est donnée par Louis XIII à son favori Charles d’Albert de Luynes lorsque l’Italien est assassiné en 1617.

Albert today

What strikes you most when you arrive in Albert, is the town's impressive architectural harmony from the interwar period and the size of the basilica, town hall, train station and public spaces, worthy of any large town.

Strolling past the facades, you are struck by the wealth of the ornamentation achieved by the arrangements of bricks. Albert bears no signs of being an industrial town, as its factories either blend into the urban fabric, or are located in business parks that are well integrated into the landscape.

As if picked up and placed gently into the countryside, Albert has tamed the Ancre, which seems to disappear in the town then suddenly reappear in waterfalls in the park, whose pavilion and rock gardens give it an old-fashioned charm.

Apart from the pilgrimages to the basilica, which continue to this day, Albert is a favourite of the British, who are connected to it by the memory of the Great War.

The Somme 1916 museum, whose entrance is at the foot of the basilica and leads through some old air-raid shelters to end up in the park, has become an integral part of the tourist's itinerary.

Albert, however, is not just about its past, as shown by the contemporary architecture of the Englishman Ritchie for the Théâtre du Jeu de Paume, located in the town hall square.

Road itineraries
From the Ancre to the Authie
Itinerary : Albert, Beaumont-Hamel(*), Mailly-Maillet(*), Authie(*), Vauchelles-les-Authie, Raincheval(*), Toutencourt, Vadencourt, Warloy-Baillon, Hénencourt(*)

Haute Somme
Itinerary : Proyart, Méricourt-sur-Somme, Morcourt, Cerisy(*), Sailly-Laurette(*), Chipilly(*), Etinehem, Bray-sur-Somme(*), Suzanne(*), Curlu, Hem-Monacu, Feuillères, Frise(*), Eclusier-Vaux(*), Cappy(*), Froissy

Detailed itinerary available on request from the Somme Tourist Board or can be downloaded from the website.

Activities
Walks

The D.Richard guide "52 family walks around Amiens and in the Somme" suggests two circular walks:
- Around Albert, 2 hours starting from the basilica.
- Circuit du Souvenir, 2 1/2 hrs starting from Authuille town hall.

Fishing
Velodrome pond

Practical info

Markets
Saturdays, free market on the second Wednesday in the month

Tourist office of "Albert Pays du Coquelicot"
9 rue Léon Gambetta
80300 ALBERT
Tél : +33 (0)3 22 75 16 42 – Fax : +33 (0)3 22 75 11 72
E-mail : ot.albert.ancre@wanadoo.fr
Website : www.tourisme-albert.net
Website : www.ville-albert.fr

Population: 10,065 (figures from INSEE [French national institute for economic and statistical information] – 1999 census)