Notre Dame

Description

Notre-Dame de Paris, also called Notre-Dame Cathedral, cathedral church in Paris. It is the most famous of the Gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages and is distinguished for its size, antiquity, and architectural interest. Notre-Dame lies at the eastern end of the Île de la Cité and was built on the ruins of two earlier churches, which were themselves predated by a Gallo-Roman temple dedicated to Jupiter. The cathedral was initiated by Maurice de Sully, bishop of Paris, who about 1160 conceived the idea of converting into a single building, on a larger scale, the ruins of the two earlier basilicas. The foundation stone was laid by Pope Alexander III in 1163, and the high altar was consecrated in 1189. The choir, the western facade, and the nave were completed by 1250, and porches, chapels, and other embellishments were added over the next 100 years. Notre-Dame Cathedral consists of a choir and apse, a short transept, and a nave flanked by double aisles and square chapels. Its central spire was added during restoration in the 19th century, replacing the original, which had been completely removed in the 18th century because of instability. The interior of the cathedral is 427 by 157 feet (130 by 48 metres) in plan, and the roof is 115 feet (35 metres) high. Two massive early Gothic towers (1210–50) crown the western facade, which is divided into three stories and has its doors adorned with fine early Gothic carvings and surmounted by a row of figures of Old Testament kings. The two towers are 223 feet (68 metres) high; the spires with which they were to be crowned were never added. At the cathedral’s east end, the apse has large clerestory windows (added 1235–70) and is supported by single-arch flying buttresses of the more daring Rayonnant Gothic style, especially notable for their boldness and grace. The cathedral’s three great rose windows alone retain their 13th-century glass. Notre-Dame Cathedral suffered damage and deterioration through the centuries. After the French Revolution it was rescued from possible destruction by Napoleon, who crowned himself emperor of the French in the cathedral in 1804. Notre-Dame underwent major restorations by the French architect Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc in the mid-19th century. The popularity of Victor Hugo’s historical novel Notre-Dame de Paris (1831), wherein the cathedral is the setting, was said to have inspired the renovations. During a restoration campaign in 2019, a fire broke out in the cathedral’s attic, and the massive blaze destroyed most of the roof, Viollet-le-Duc’s 19th-century spire

Facts about Notre Dame

• Notre Dame was commissioned by King Louis VII, who ruled from 1120-1180. As a champion of French Gothic architecture, he wanted this new cathedral to symbolise Parisian supremacy. Louis had been married to Eleanor of Aquitaine, although they had no children, and Eleanor went on to marry Henry Plantagenet, later Henry II
• Notre Dame asserted a key innovation in Gothic architecture: the flying buttress. Before the buttresses, the weight of the roof structures pressed outwards and down, requiring thick wall support.
• The two towers on the west façade date from the early 13th century, and measure 69 metres high. The south tower is home to 10 bells. The largest, the bourdon, is named Emmanuel. It has tolled to mark the coronations of kings, papal visits, the end of the world wars, and the events of 9/11
• After the French Revolution in 1789, Notre Dame was seized and nationalised. Many of the treasures were either destroyed or plundered – the 28 statues of biblical kings were beheaded
• Notre-Dame de Paris, also called Notre-Dame Cathedral, cathedral church in Paris. It is the most famous of the Gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages and is distinguished for its size, antiquity, and architectural interest

Details Of This Palace

1	Years built		:		1163–1345
2	Groundbreaking		:		1163
3	Completed		:		1345
4	Lenght		:		128 m (420 ft)
5	Height		:		35 metres (115 ft)
6	Width		:		48 m (157 ft)

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