First constructed in 528 under Childebert I, the history of Cathedrale Notre Dame de Paris stands as a window into France's dark history. Oddly enough, the Notre Dame we know today is not the original building. Although it served as the official cathedral in Paris, the original Notre Dame was actually demolished in 1160 under order of Bishop Maurice de Sully. Three years later, reconstruction on this magnificent building began.In our church, we often marvel at the 40 years it took to build the Salt Lake temple. Yes, 40 years is a long time to construct a single structure. Notre Dame's construction time, however, completely dwarfs that of the Salt Lake temple, requiring nearly 200 years to complete. From 1163 to 1345, Notre Dame stood as a constant construction project, cycling through four different architects in the process.
Unfortunately, 1345 did not mark the end of Notre Dame's journey to becoming the cathedral we know today. Alterations by Louis XIV and Louis XV, the French Revolution, an 1845 restoration program, civil uprisings, and the 1944 libeartion of Paris all faciliated significant changes to cathedral. Finally, in 1991, builders undertook the major project of restroring Notre Dame, and in recent years this battle-scarred structure is once again gleaming in all its original splendor.
Because Notre Dame has undergone so many drastic changes over the years, it shines as a perfect example of different architechtural techniques and styles of gothic architecture in pre-Renissance France. Epitomizing the architechtural elements of gothic architecture, Notre Dame presents strong examples of a cross shaped layout, verticality, light, pointed arches, ribbed vaults, spires and flying buttresses.
Like most gothic churches, an aerial view of Notre Dame de Paris shows that it is built in the shape of a cross. Typically, the long portion, called the nave, served as the actual church. The shorter portion (the part that makes it a cross), called the transept, served various purposes depending on the cathedral.
VERTICALITY AND LIGHT
As with many gothic cathedrals, Notre Dame is identifiable by its incredible vaulted ceilings and jaw-dropping stain glass. While some of the glass is from the original 1163-1345 reconstruction, much of it has been replaced over the years. POINTED ARCHES, RIBBED VAULTS AND SPIRES
Further adding to the elements of verticality and light, pointed arches and spires are used throughout Notre Dame. Considered the defining characteristic of gothic architecture, the pointed arch was used to assist in creating the vaulted ceilings found in cathedrals like Notre Dame. In a sense, ribbed vaults could be considered several interior pointed arches used in succession, as shown in the picture on the right.
Notre Dame has two spires, the first of which is a bell tower built in 1250. The second was added in 1860 and built independantly of the rest of Notre Dame's structure. FLYING BUTTRESSES
Although not originally intended to be a part of the architecture of Notre Dame, cracks in the thin walls (another characteristic of gothic architecture) caused architects to finally include flying buttresses as part of Notre Dame's design to keep the cathedral from falling down.As one of the most famous of all cathedrals, Notre Dame de Paris stands as a testament to gothic architecture. It continuously provides insight into Paris' history.Through centuries of blood, war, and physical scarring beyond belief, Notre Dame withstands the test of time, and will continue to do so for centuries to come.
Check Notre Dame's official website! http://www.notredamedeparis.fr/spip.php?rubrique2
I love your introduction as well as your comparison to the Salt Lake Temple! What kind of records were kept about the construction?
ReplyDeleteThe old European cathedrals and basilica's are incredible, both in architecture as well as the ability that the society had to construct buildings which still stand over one thousand years later. I often think about how architecture contributes to the reputation of an institution. The university will frequently include pillars with an Ionic or Corinthian styling to represent higher learning. The Maeser building and Grant building show the semblance of the connection to other universities which connect to ancient academia.
ReplyDeleteSorry to gate crash on your blog, but I'm a huge literature fan, and I happen to have served my mission in Paris, so I would have felt wrong about not mentioning that I enjoyed this post! Notre Dame is a beautiful structure, but what's interesting to me is how famous it is. As I remember, it isn't the oldest, nor is it the largest, nor even (I think) the one that took the longest to complete; and it certainly isn't the only cathedral named 'Notre Dame'. As you mentioned, Kacee, what seems to have made it so famous is simply the fact that it is the 'Notre Dame' of Paris, and it has seen all the history of that great city.
ReplyDeleteAs a sidenote, there are some remarkable differences between 'Notre Dame de Paris', as written by Hugo, and the Disney film; the one I found most interesting is that of Frollo. The movie portrays him as little more than a tyrant, while in the book he is portrayed as something of a more tragic character, much more compassionate than his Disney counterpart.
Well we gotta love Disney for portraying history, literature and myths a bit differently than the original story. I was really sad when I first learned the real story of Hercules.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing that one structure can carry so much history and become the inspiration for literary works, but there seems to be a lot of them. The Taj Mahal, the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty...
The word nave shares the same root as naval and navy. Churches (especially cathedrals) are the Christian ship, with the Divine Pilot at the helm ("Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me" anyone?). It's amazing to see the depths of symbolism woven into the very architecture of religious buildings.
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