Notre Dame Paris

The cathedral of Notre Dame stands on the site of a Christian basilica which had in turn been built on the site of a temple from the Roman era. Its construction was begun in 1163, under Bishop Maurice de Sully: first the chancel was built, followed over the years by the nave and aisles and the facade, completed by Bishop Eudes de Sully in about 1200, the towers being finished in 1245. The architects Jean de Chelles and Pierre de Montreuil then constructed the chapels in the aisles and in the chancel. Towards 1250 the facade of the north arm of the transept was also completed the other, that of the south arm, was not begun until eight years later. The church could be said to be completed in 1345. In 1793 it ran the risk of being demolished; at this time, during the French Revolution, it was dedicated to the Goddess of Reason. Reconsecrated in 1802, it was the scene two years later of the coronation of Napoleon I by Pope Pius V11. It was restored by Viollet le Duc between 1844 and 1864.

THE FACADE

It is divided vertically into three parts by pilasters and horizontally into three areas by its two galleries; in the lowest zone are the three portals. Above the portals runs the Gallery of the Kings, with its 28 statues representing the kings of Israel and Judea. In 1793 the people, seeing them as the hated French kings, knocked them down, but they were later put back in place. The central zone of the facade contains two great mullioned windows, on either side of a rose window measuring more than 30 feet in diameter (1220 1225). In the centre are the statues of the Virgin and Child with angels, on either side Adan? and Eve. Above this part is a gallery of tightly carved arches which link the two towers at the sides; though never completed, the towers contain splendid, extremely high two light windows. Violletle Duc filled this uppermost zone with gargoyles, grotesque figures with strange and fantastic forms, projecting from pinnacles, spires and extensions of the walls.

Central portal.

On this is depicted the Last Judgment: on the pier which divides it in two is the statue of Christ, while in the embrasures there are panels with the personifications of the vices and virtues and statues of the apostles. Around the curve of the arch are the Heavenly Court, Paradise and Hell. The lunette containing the Last judgtnent is divided into three parts, dominated by the figure of Christ, flanked by the Virgin, St John and angels with symbols of the Passion. Below are the Blessed on one side and the Damned on the other. In the lower part, the Resurrection.

Right portal.

Also called the Portal of St Anne, it dates from 1160 1170, with reliefs from the 1 2th and 1 3th centuries. On the dividing pier, a statue of St Marcel. In the lunette, the Virgin between two angels and at the sides Bishop Maurice de Sully and King Louis X11.

Left portal.

Also called the Portal of the Virgin, it is the finest of the three. On the dividing pier, the Virgin and Child,' a modern work. In the lunette above, the Death, Glorification and Assumption of the Virgin. On the door posts are depicted the Months of the year, in the embrasures figures of saints and angels.

INTERIOR

Its dimensions are impressive: 427 feet long, 164 feet wide and 115 feet high, it can contain no less than 9000 persons. The interior is divided into nave and four aisles by cylindrical piers 16 feet in diameter, with a double ambulatory around the transept and chancel. The rose window in the facade, above the 18th century organ, depicts the Signs of the Zodiac, the Months and the Vices and Virtues. Above the arcades runs a gallery with double openings, surmounted in turn by ample windows. The chapels following one after the other up to the transept have a wealth of works of art from the 1 7th and 1 8th centuries: outstanding are two paintings by Le Brun, the Martyrdom of St Stephen and the Martyrdom of St Andrew, in the first and second chapels on the right respectively. The two ends of the transept have splendid stained glass windows from the 13th century. The one in the north transept (about 1250) depicts subjects from the Old Testament with the Virgin and Child in the centre; the one in the south transept, restored in the 1 8th century, represents Christ in the act of blessing in the centre, surrounded by Apostles and Martyrs, with the Wise and Foolish Virgins. After the transept comes the chancel: on the pier to the right as one enters is the celebrated statue of Notre Dame de Paris (Our Lady of Paris), a 14th century work once in the St Aignan Chapel. Around the chancel are carved wooden choir stalls (18th century); on the high altar, a statue of the Pieta, by Nicolas Coustou, in the centre, with Louis X111, by Guillaume Coustou, and Louis XIV, by Coysevox, at the sides. An uncompleted marble chancel screen, decorated with reliefs (works by Jean Ravy and Jean le Bouteiller), separates the chancel from the ambulatory, and in the radial chapels around it are numerous tombs. On the right, between the Chapelle St Denis and the Chapelle St Madeleine, is the entrance to the Treasury: it contains much sacred silverware and important relics, among them a fragment of the True Cross, the Crown of Thorns and the Holy Nail.





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