Beginner tourists who are looking for attractions in paris You quickly arrive at Notre Dame Cathedral, which since it was built during the Middle Ages has become one of the symbols of the city. Most tourists who look at the church are sure that they are looking at an ancient structure, without knowing that the magnificent cathedral standing in front of them is the fruit of the imagination of a 19th-century architect.
The construction and destruction of Notre Dame Cathedral
Let's start at the beginning. The Île de la Cité has been a place of worship since Roman times, when the temple of Jupiter stood there. In 1163, the Bishop of Paris, Maurice de Sully, one of the ancestors of Henry IV's Chancellor of the Exchequer, that the Romanesque church that stood there was not large and magnificent enough. And so began a period of nearly 200 years of construction, which gave birth to one of the most beautiful and impressive Gothic churches in Paris in particular and in the world in general. However, starting in the 17th century, the church began to be destroyed – not by barbarians or the ravages of time but rather by the most famous architects, and all in the name of fashion!
The first to destroy them were Jules Hardouin Mansart (1646-1708), who is known as a builder Palace of Versailles and Robert de Cotte (1656-1735). Both decided to remove the stone screen separating the nave from the choir because the Gothic style was out of fashion. Later, it was decided to dismantle a large part of the church's stained glass windows, so that more light could enter, and along the way to remove some of the more beautiful tombstones that stood there. The only window that has survived intact is on the north facade, as well as some of the stained glass on the south facade.
Unfortunately, the western facade was completely destroyed, and we can only imagine the walls painted blue and decorated with gold stars that were there. The original gate on the western facade was also destroyed during the 18th century to allow larger religious processions to enter. This destruction was signed by no less than an architect the pantheon Germain Sufflot (Jacques Germain Sufflot 1713-1780).
In the late 18th century, the Notre Dame Church managed to escape destruction thanks to Robespierre, who decided to turn it into a temple to reason, but along the way, the revolutionaries decided to destroy the statues of the kings of Judah on the west facade of the church, because they thought that these were statues of kings. France (Some of these sculptures can be found today in the Cluny Museum).
Le Duc rebuilds Notre Dame
And so Notre Dame Cathedral arrived in the 19th century broken and shattered. As a result, when Napoleon decided to crown himself there, tapestries had to be ordered to cover the empty walls. The very fact that these walls were still standing was something of a miracle, since the cathedral was already up for sale and a potential buyer had even been found, who planned to build a residential neighborhood on its ruins.
The buyer was none other than Claude-Henri Ruvrois de Saint Simon (1760-1825), the famous thinker and father of modern socialism. Fortunately, the deal did not go through and the cathedral continued to stand. However, its physical condition deteriorated. The one who saved Notre Dame from destruction this time was the famous writer Victor Hugo, who published in 1831 “The Hunchback of Notre Dame".
Hugo's book caused a Parisian outburst of nostalgia for the Gothic period, and a committee was formed to prevent the cathedral from being destroyed and to restore it. In 1844, a competition was held among the leading architects of the time for the right to be responsible for the restoration of the cathedral. The winners were Viollet-le-Duc (1814–1879 Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc) and Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Lassus (1807–1857 Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Lassus), but Lassus died of liver disease shortly after work began, and Lassus became the main architect responsible for the project.
Le Duc's philosophy regarding the restoration of Notre Dame was not to attempt to rebuild the original structures of the cathedral that had been destroyed over time. Instead, the architect decided to rebuild Notre Dame and make it, in his opinion, more beautiful and more Gothic than the original. Thus, the southern part of the church and the guardhouse were all built in the 19th century.
They were joined by the statues that adorn the west facade of Notre Dame, replacing those that were destroyed during the French Revolution And if you look closely, you can find, among other things, a statue representing the triumphant church and next to it a blindfolded woman representing the synagogue (a bit ironic considering the blindness that the government and the church have been demonstrating in France in recent years). To all of these, there are also statues of chimeras and gargoyles, all the work of Le Duc. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, one of the great symbols of medieval architecture was born in the 19th century!
The Paris Cathedral continues to survive despite everything…
The new-old cathedral was reopened in 1864, but in 1871 it was again facing complete destruction, when the Commune piled wooden benches and barrels of gunpowder inside it with the intention of burning it, asThey burned the Tuileries Palace and the Paris City Hall.Fortunately for the city of Paris, the soldiers arrived just after setting the benches on fire and extinguished the fire without causing any damage to the church.
About 70 years later, Notre Dame faced destruction again, this time on the orders of Hitler, who ordered it to be destroyed along with the city of Paris. And again, it was almost miraculously saved and was able to host Charles de Gaulle in a prayer of thanksgiving after the liberation of the city. As of now, the danger of destruction has passed over Notre Dame (except for the danger of it becoming a mosque) and one can continue to enjoy its incredible beauty and the enchanting music produced by its bells.
Then came the big fire.
On April 15, 2019, Notre Dame Cathedral burned down and many parts of it were damaged. In the following article, you can learn about the long road to restoring the cathedral.
Restoration efforts are progressing, with a target date of 2024 – the year the Paris Olympics are scheduled to take place. In the meantime, the cathedral’s organ has already been restored with the cooperation of organ builders from all over the country, and is scheduled to be reassembled in October 2023.
As you will see, the work is very extensive and will take a long time, but I am hopeful that in a few years we will be able to return and visit this beautiful church, which will transform from a building that was mostly built in the 19th century into a building that has quite a few parts from the 21st century.
What else is recommended to do after you've finished visiting the cathedral (or passed by it)?
Whether you're reading this after the Notre Dame renovations are complete or not, you'll be happy to know that there's still plenty to do if you're in the area. Here are some interesting options:
- If you like churches, don't miss theSainte Chapelle (especially if Paris weather It's summer and there's a lot of sun.) And by the way, if you're going to visit Sainte-Chapelle, don't miss the The concierge.
- Want a walking route that includes Notre Dame? I highly recommend the route inIle de la Cite and Ile Saint-Louis.
- For a trip to the Left Bank, it is recommended to try the The itinerary in the Latin QuarterIf you decide to travel to the right bank then I recommend The itinerary in the Marais district It can be started withHotel de Ville (instead of at its original starting point) and go south and east, then north and west until you return to the same place where you started the trip).
Is it worth living near Notre Dame Cathedral?
Notre Dame is located in the heart of Paris (in fact, there is no place more central than it, since that is where the distance of Paris from anywhere else in France is measured). However, as far as I know, there are no hotels or vacation rentals on the Ile de la Cité where the church is located, so if you want to live near the church and enjoy a prime location, you have 2 options:
- If you want to live on the Right Bank, I recommend living in the Fourth District (you can find recommended hotels atThis article and recommended apartments inLink this).
- If you want to live on the Left Bank and be close to Notre Dame, I recommend living in the 5th arrondissement (recommended hotels in this arrondissement can be found atLink this Which recommended apartments can be found? HERE).