Notre Dame
"The Cathedral of Our Lady of Paris , place
du Parvis Notre Dame, is the true heart of Paris
Notre Dame is not only a masterpiece of French Gothic's
architecture, but has also been Catholic Paris' ceremonial
focus for seven centuries. [1]. "
"The Notre Dame itself is so much
photographed, painted and sketched that,
seeing it even for
the first time, the edge
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of your response may be somewhat dulled
by familiarity. Yet Notre Dame is truly impressive, that
great H shaped west front, with its strong vertical divisions
counter balanced by the horizontal emphasis of gallery and frieze,
all centred on the rose window a solid, no nonsense design that
confesses its Romanesque ancestry. For a more
fantastical kind of Gothic, look rather at the north transept
facade, with its crocketed gables and huge fretted window space.
The cathedral popularity is such that, especially
at weekends and throughout the summer, there are long queues
out onto the square. This is the real tourist heartland and
can get uncomfortably crowded, while the immediate area is crammed
with tacky souvenir shops.
'Notre Dame was begun in 1160 under the auspices
of Bishop de Sully and completed around 1245. In
the nineteenth century, Viollet le Duc carried out
extensive renovation work, including remaking most of the statuary
the entire frieze of Old Testament kings, for instance,
damaged during the Revolution by enthusiasts who took them for the
kings of France and adding the steeple and baleful
looking gargoyles, which you can see close up if you brave the ascent
of the towers. Ravaged by weather and pollution, the facade's beauty
may still be partially masked by scaffolding put up for further restoration
work.
Inside The Notre Dame, the immediately striking feature is the dramatic contrast
between the darkness of the nave and the light falling on the first
great clustered pillars of the choir. It's the end walls of the transepts
that admit all this light, nearly two thirds glass, including two
magnificent rose windows coloured in imperial purple.
These, the vaulting, the soaring shafts reaching to the springs of
the vaults, are all definite Gothic elements, yet,
inside as out, there remains a strong sense of Romanesque in the stout
round pillars of the nave and the general sense of four squareness.
[2]. "
References:
[1] Steve Fallon, Daniel Robinson, Tony Wheeler, Paris. Australia: Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd, 2001.
[2] Kate Baillie and Tim Salmon, Paris The Rough Guide. England: The Rough Guides, 1999.
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