Notre Dame Cathedral (Paris)

The Notre Dame Cathedral (French: Cathédrale Notre-Dame, lit. Cathedral of Our Lady) is a cathedral of worship Catholic, seat of the Archdiocese of Paris, the capital of France. Dedicated to the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ, it is located on the small island of the Cité, surrounded by the waters of the Seine River. It is one of the most popular monuments in the French capital.

This is one of the most outstanding and ancient buildings of those that were built in the Gothic style. The innovative use of the ribbed vault and the flying buttress, the enormous and colorful rose windows and the naturalism and abundance of sculptural decoration differentiate it from Romanesque architecture.

Its construction began in the year 1163 and, by 1260, it was already mostly completed, although it was finished in the year 1345 and was frequently modified throughout the following centuries, due to renovation needs and also by the evolution of the dominant taste. In 1786 the central needle, damaged by the inclement weather, had to be dismantled. During the 1790s, after the French Revolution, Notre Dame was deconsecrated and many of its assets were stolen and dispersed, as well as part of its religious imagery was desecrated, which was left damaged and destroyed. After being used as a warehouse, in 1802, its use was returned to the Catholic Church thanks to Napoleon Bonaparte, who would be crowned emperor at Notre Dame two years later. Nevertheless, the temple subsisted in modest conditions until the publication in 1831 of Notre Dame de Paris, a novel written by Victor Hugo and whose main setting was Notre Dame, revived popular interest in the old Parisian cathedral.. The architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, defender of the nascent neo-Gothic style, spearheaded a restoration project that began in 1845 and lasted for a quarter of a century; This intervention, too daring according to some historians, not only repaired damaged ornaments but also incorporated entirely new elements, such as a new 96-meter-high spire and the now famous Chimeras, and demolished the surrounding buildings. Already in 1963 the façade was cleaned of soot, which thus recovered its original color. A new cleaning and restoration campaign was carried out between 1991 and 2000, but the building still needed interventions in other parts, such as its central spire, and (after difficulties in raising funds) repairs were revived in 2019.

On April 15, 2019, the building sustained significant fire damage; two thirds of the roof was destroyed, the central spire of Viollet-le-Duc fell and the rose windows were damaged. The fire may have been due to an oversight during renovation work that was taking place, but this assumption is the subject of an investigation now underway.

History

Context: transition from Romanesque to Gothic

Gothic cathedrals arose, closely linked to the idea of splendor and monumentality, as a clear effect of the needs and aspirations of the society of the time. Not only does it arise in a Neoplatonic vision of the matter, with religious and artistic motivations, but it also ascends with the intention of a clerical propaganda of royal power, in the face of the predominance of the feudal nobility and the Clunian clergy of that time. Gothic architecture is a powerful instrument within a society that sees urban life transform at an accelerated pace at the beginning of the XVth century. The city reappears with importance in the social field, in the economic field (mirror of the growing commercial relations), ascending, for its part, the wealthy bourgeoisie and the influence of the urban clergy. The result of this is a substitution also of the needs for religious construction outside the cities, in rural monarchic communities, by the new symbol of urban prosperity, the Gothic cathedral. This architecture will be the core, not only intellectual, but also cultural of the medieval city. Around it will be celebrated festivals, religious services and commerce among other activities. And as a response to the search for a new growing dignity within France, the Notre Dame de Paris cathedral arose.

Building process

Vertical cut of a section of the cathedral

Despite the poor construction quality of the subsoil, this location has a long history dedicated to religious worship. The Celts had held their ceremonies here, where, later, the Romans would erect a temple to the god Jupiter. The first Christian church in Paris also existed here, the Saint-Etienne (Saint Stephen) basilica, designed by Childebert I around the year 528. A Romanesque church arose to replace this work, which will remain until 1164, when construction begins. of the present cathedral.

Already in 1160, and as a result of the centralizing rise of Paris, Bishop Maurice de Sully considered the existing church (that of Saint Stephen) unworthy of the new values. The initial gothic, with its technical innovations that allowed previously impossible shapes, is the answer to the demand for a new concept of prestige in the citizen domain. During the reign of Louis VII, and under his support, this project was financially blessed by all social classes. Thus, and taking into account the greatness of the project, the program continued quickly and without interruptions that could occur due to lack of financial means (something common, at the time, in large-scale constructions). Construction began in 1163, reflecting influences from the Saint Denis Abbey, with doubts still subsisting as to the identity of who would have "laid" the first stone, Bishop Sully or Pope Alexander III. Throughout the process (construction, including modifications, lasted until the middle of the XIV century) several architects participated in the project, clarifying this factor the stylistic differences present in the building.

In 1182 the choir was already providing religious services and, during the transition between the centuries, the nave was completed. At the beginning of the XIII century, work began on the west façade with its two towers, extending to the middle of the same century. The arms of the transept (north-south oriented) were built from 1250 to 1267 under the supervision of Jean de Chelles and Pierre de Montreuil. Simultaneously, other cathedrals were built around it in a more advanced style within the Gothic; Chartres Cathedral, Reims Cathedral and Amiens Cathedral.

The arbotants of the cathedral, built at the beginning of the centuryXIII, they are a structural solution typical of the Gothic architecture that derives the pressures of the vaults to the confuses attached to the exterior of the walls.

In 1314 Jacques de Molay was burned alive at the stake in front of the cathedral, still under construction.

Subsequent Modifications

The cathedral was substantially altered at the end of the 17th century, during the reign of Louis XIV, mainly in the eastern part, in which tombs and stained glass windows were destroyed to be replaced by elements more to the taste of the artistic style of the time, the Baroque. Between 1630 and 1707 the Paris goldsmiths guild commissioned one painting a year from artists such as Laurent de La Hyre or Sébastien Bourdon. The resulting painting was presented in the month of May, which is why this series of paintings is known as "los mayos". There were 76 large-format paintings, which were dispersed after the 1789 Revolution. There are currently more than 50, distributed for the most part by museums in the country; recently, a dozen of these works returned to the temple.

In 1786 the original central spire, in unstable conditions due to centuries of inclement weather, had to be dismantled. After the outbreak of the French Revolution, the building was deconsecrated and became state property, and in 1793 more elements of the cathedral were destroyed and many of its treasures stolen, ending the space itself to serve as a food store. In 1802 Napoleon Bonaparte formalized the return of Notre Dame to the Church and the resumption of its use for worship. Two years later Napoleon crowned himself emperor in the cathedral in the presence of Pope Pius VII. As seen in the famous painting by Jacques-Louis David, the interior was decorated expressly with curtains and carpets in the fashion of the moment, masking the soulless appearance of the temple in those years.

With the blossoming of the romantic era and the success of Our Lady of Paris, the novel by Victor Hugo, the cathedral was appreciated with different eyes. Under this new light of thought, a restoration program for the cathedral began in 1844, led by the architects Eugène Viollet-le-Duc and Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Lassus, which lasted twenty-three years.

The cathedral at the end of the centuryXIX according to an engraving of Alfred-Alexandre Delauney

Among the modifications that were made are: the insertion of gables in the windows, the central spire and the south rose window entirely new, the change of the stone of the flying buttresses for new stone, the reconstruction of all the interior chapels and altars, the placement of statues in the Gallery of the Kings, partially destroyed during the French Revolution (there are even some that are portraits of Viollet); Numerous chimeras were added to the cathedral that make up one of its most characteristic images. In addition, the surroundings of the site were cleared to give Notre Dame a greater role and make it visible from further away, which implied demolishing all the nearby buildings and meant the loss of the medieval urban fabric.

In 1965, as a result of excavations to build an underground car park in the cathedral square, catacombs were discovered, revealing ruins of a 17th-century Roman, Merovingian cathedral VI and medieval rooms. Already closer to the present, in 1991 another project of restoration and maintenance of the cathedral began with an expected duration of ten years; it was considered finished in 2000, but the colossal building still required maintenance and in 2018, after a public appeal to raise money, it was decided to intervene in the central spire of Viollet-le-Duc, which was in unstable conditions.

Events

The coronation of Napoleon (1805-1807), painting by Jacques-Louis David. The work portrays the interior of Notre Dame during the coronation of Napoleon Bonaparte as emperor of France on December 2, 1804.

In 1429, the coronation of Henry VI of England took place in the cathedral during the Hundred Years' War, and, centuries later, on December 2, 1804, that of Napoleon Bonaparte as Emperor of France and his wife Josephine de Beauharnais as Empress, in the presence of Pope Pius VII. Due to this event, the Pope raised Notre Dame to the category of minor basilica.

On January 30, 1853, the cathedral is the scene of another historic event: the wedding of Napoleon III with Eugenia de Montijo. But in 1871, with the short duration of the Paris Commune, the cathedral once again became a backdrop for social turmoil, during which it was almost set on fire.

Detail of the needle fire before falling apart.

In 1900 the French organist and composer Louis Vierne won the position of titular organist after a tough competition against the five hundred best organists of his day. In 1909 Joan of Arc was beatified and in 1931 Antonieta Rivas Mercado committed suicide with a shot to the heart, on a bench in front of the image of Jesus Christ crucified. In 1937 Louis Vierne died during the performance of his 1750th organ recital. 1980 Pope John Paul II celebrates a mass in Parvis Square.

In 2017 there was an attempted attack, carried out by a member of the terrorist organization Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant with a hammer, quickly thwarted by the police. In 2019 there was a fire in the cathedral, which destroyed the roof and collapsed the spire located on the transept.

Fire

The cathedral suffered a fire that started on the afternoon of April 15, 2019 on the roof of the building and caused considerable damage. The spire of the cathedral and the roof collapsed and both the interior space and many movable assets were seriously damaged.

Description of the cathedral

Description of the cathedral

Description of the cathedral

The western façade

The three doors of the west facade

It is the main façade and the one with the greatest monumentality. An affinity can be established in the composition and general lines with the Saint-Denis façade, a derivation of the Norman Romanesque façade.

The façade presents a proportional set, reducing its elements to the essential, although with great wealth of details. We opted for a "plastic" wall that interconnects all its elements and also integrates the sculpture in predefined places, preventing it from being arranged somewhat randomly as it happened in the Romanesque.

The façade has three horizontal levels and is divided into three vertical zones by the slightly prominent buttresses that vertically join the two lower floors and reinforce the peaks of the two towers. In the organization of the façade, which follows a hierarchical and geometric pattern, it is possible to distinguish the north tower, the south tower, the Gallery of the chimeras, the western rose window, the Gallery of the kings and the access doors:

• North side door: Puerta de la Virgen.
• Central gate: Final Judgment Gate. Early in the centuryXIII, although with numerous restorations, it has three records. The superior represents Christ together with two angels with the instruments of Passion, the Virgin and the Apostle John. In the central register, San Miguel and the demons struggle for the weight of the souls of the deceased. The lower is the most restored after the destruction committed during the French Revolution. The deceased are represented at the time of their resurrection. In the partluz Jesus is represented in his role as judge. Arquivoltas represent a profuse display of characters, condemned, blessed, patriarchs and even angels. The lower socket is represented Vicios and the Virtues, the calendars and signs of the Zodiac.
• South side door: Puerta de Santa Ana.

Above the doors of the façade, is the Gallery of the Kings, made up of 28 statues representing the kings of Judea and Israel. During the French Revolution, these statues were mostly destroyed because they were believed to represent the kings of France, so the current statues are replicas of the originals, part of which can be seen in the Cluny Museum.

The towers are 69 meters high. The south tower contains the famous Emmanuel bell. It can be visited, passing through the Gallery of chimeras.

Inside

Southern Rosemary of the Cathedral

The interior of the cathedral stands out for its luminosity, thanks to the large windows that open in the apse, the clerestory, the clerestory and the side naves. Great originality and audacity are the cylindrical pillars that separate the spaces of the naves. Contrary to what was done later in most Gothic buildings, they were designed as giant columns, without beams or attached columns. The vaults and the tracery of the windows show simple designs, as corresponds to the initial phase of the Gothic in which they were projected. The sculptural decoration of capitals, spandrels and other spaces also responds to the simplicity inherited from the Cistercian tradition, and plant elements predominate in them.

The pity of Nicolas Coustou

At the head, the monumental Pieta stands out, sculpted by Nicolas Coustou in the 18th century, and that presides over the cathedral from the center of the apse. The statue is surrounded by effigies of King Louis XIII, by Guillaume Coustou, and Louis XIV, by Antoine Coysevox. Both monarchs appear kneeling in an attitude of supplication, and are surrounded by angels carrying the Arma Christi.

The choir space preserves part of the wooden stalls that were placed in this space in the 18th century. It presents a typically Baroque decoration, with an abundance of scrolls and carved bas-reliefs.

Most of the stained glass windows were installed during successive restorations that began in the 19th century.

The cathedral treasury keeps some relics related to the Passion of Christ: the Crown of Thorns, a fragment of the True Cross and one of the nails that was used for the crucifixion. These sacred medals were purchased by King Louis IX from the Emperor of Constantinople. On August 19, 1239, the king himself brought the relics to Notre-Dame while a suitable building was being built for them, which would become the Sainte Chapelle. During the French Revolution, the relics were taken to the National Library. After the Concordat of 1801, they were handed over to the custody of the Archbishop of Paris, who deposited them back in the cathedral on August 10, 1806.

The Organ

The cathedral's main organ is an outstanding instrument, mostly the work of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll; It has a box adorned with automata. The title of titular organist of Notre Dame is one of the highest honors to which a musician can aspire. Among those who have occupied it, Louis Vierne stands out, who was an organist between 1900 and 1937.

Layout

The organ of the cathedral

Bells

Notre Dame in art and popular culture

Painting

Notre Dame Cathedral has been depicted in paintings and book illustrations since the Gothic era. His earliest images are surely the miniatures that appear in The Very Rich Hours of the Duke of Berry by the Limbourg brothers and in Jean Fouquet's Book of Hours of Étienne Chevalier.

During the Renaissance and Baroque stages, the Gothic cathedral, contrary to the dominant taste, seems to lose presence in paintings and engravings. Its interior does appear represented in the colossal painting The Coronation of Napoleon painted by Jacques-Louis David, since the ceremony was held there in 1804, but the Gothic architecture of the temple appears masked by the decoration designed ex profeso by Charles Percier and Pierre Fontaine.

Notre Dame regains its presence in painting later in the XIX century, thanks to Victor Hugo and the prevailing neo-Gothic taste in Europe. It appears in the background of Liberty Leading the People (1830) by Delacroix, and already in the XX century, in paintings by Henri Matisse, Henri Rousseau and Marc Chagall.

Literature

Quasimodo, one of the main characters in the novel Our Lady of Paris (1831), on a gargola of the cathedral.

During Romanticism, Victor Hugo wrote the novel Our Lady of Paris in 1831. The events he narrates take place in the cathedral during the Middle Ages and feature Quasimodo, who he falls in love with a gypsy named Esmeralda. Quasimodo, who rings the bells of the cathedral and becomes fond of her, helped the author to vindicate the restoration of the building.

And the cathedral was not just his mother's companion, it was the universe; better said, it was Nature itself. He never dreamed that there were other hedges that the stains in continuous bloom; another shadow than that of the stone foliage always in deernes, full of birds in the bushes of the Saxon capitals; other mountains than the colossal towers of the church; or other oceans that Paris roaring under his feet.

Victor Hugo, Our Lady of Paris1831.

The book, in whose prologue the author already denounced the neglect to which the building had fallen, managed to attract the attention of the Parisian public. Hugo was openly opposed to the original restoration plan, with neoclassical overtones, directed by the architect Étienne-Hippolyte Godde, and advocated instead the Gothic design of Eugène Viollet-le-Duc.

Cinema

The story was brought to the big screen for the first time with Esmeralda the Gypsy Woman, a film in which Charles Laughton plays the hunchback and Maureen O'Hara plays Esmeralda. Dozens followed in the first film, although Anthony Quinn and Gina Lollobrigida starred in the most famous in 1956. Disney adapted the work in 1996 with an animated film, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. three hundred million dollars worldwide. The cathedral also appears in a scene from the Pixar animated film Ratatouille, in The Smurfs 2 and in the film animated Argentine Manuelita.

Notre-Dame Burns, directed by Jean Jaccques Annaud and released in 2022, recreates the fire that the cathedral suffered on April 15, 2019 and the efforts of the firefighters, and the entire city, to put it out. A fire broke out in the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris.