 |
| 0383 Notre Dame de Paris - Cathedral's Western Facade |
Posted on 14.11.2012, 18.04.2013, 17.11.2015
"That most terrible church of the most glorious Virgin Mary, mother of God, deservedly shines out, like the sun among stars", wrote Jean de Jandun in 1323 in his Treatise on the Praises of Paris, about the Cathedral Notre Dame de Paris (Our Lady of Paris), located on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité. It is one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture, even if it suffered significant damages during the riots Huguenots in the 16th century, during the French Revolution, and during the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV, when they tried to modernize the cathedral. Neither the WWII didn't spare it.
 |
| 0605 Notre Dame de Paris - Quai Montebello and the Cathedral |
Tradition has it that Notre-Dame’s first stone was laid in 1163 in the presence of Pope Alexander III, the initiative of building the cathedral belonging to Maurice de Sully, the bishop of Paris, who wanted to provide a response to the unprecedented development that the city knew at the time. Construction was completed in 1345, with the contribution of many architects, and in the next centuries held periodicaly refurbishments. The cathedral treasury is notable for its reliquary, which houses the purported crown of thorns, a fragment of the True Cross upon which Jesus was crucified, and one of the Holy Nails - all instruments of the Passion.
 |
| 2043 Notre Dame de Paris - The Cathedral viewed from Pont de l'Archevêché, covered with 'love padlocks' |
In the postcard 0383 can be seen the Western Facade of Notre-Dame, "an imposing, simple and harmonious mass whose strength and sombre grandeur is based on interplay between vertical and horizontal lines: four powerful buttresses that spring up to the top of the towers, lifting them heavenwards. They symbolically let us know that this cathedral-church was built for God. Two wide horizontal strips seem to bring the building back down to our mortal earth." Its construction started in 1200, the North Tower being completed in 1240 and the South tower in 1250.
Read more »