Maurice de Sully he
designed the paintings, sculptures, portals and stained glass in
such a manner that they are not only ornament the cathedral but
also visually narrate Biblical stories. It has two towers to its
western front and a smaller spire on the nave. The size of the
place is marvelously huge 130 m long, 48 m wide and 35 m tall. (Archiseek)
The western doorways are decorated with petite embellishments
and sculptures while the rest of the façade is ornamented with
sculptures and a large rose window in the center between the two
towers. Everything about the Cathedral has a specific uniqueness
to it like the Gargoyles; most of them were fashioned by Eugène
Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc. All through the cathedral one comes
across a variety of distant sculptures, flying buttresses,
gargoyles, and vastly enlarged windows, which by their distinct
style emit the early gothic style and show the impact of that
age on them.
Religious
Influences
The architect seems to be highly inspired by the stories of the
bible and hence decided to keep it the central theme of the
cathedral. The cathedral is prominent due to its numerous
historical events, its distinct architectural style, and also
because of the religious influences on it. Because it has been
through many ages and times, through changing times, ideas and
concepts of religion and faith. With each tide of new concepts
if religion and thought came a direct reaction that fell on the
cathedral because it occupied such magnitude. At one time all
traces of religion were stripped away from it especially in the
Revolutionary era. At a time during the Commune the cathedral
was nearly burnt down but it survived that too. (Pariserve)
History
The cathedral has had a very eventful history. It was given its
due respect at one time and in another it was snatched away of
the ornaments that decorated it, it was once the place where
crusaders prayed before setting out to their Holy wars and
polyphonic music developed here. When the revolutionary era
started many of the statues were destroyed or torn out and
disposed and the treasures were plundered upon. The
Revolutionaries dedicated the cathedral first to the cult of
Reason, and then to the cult of the Supreme Being and the church
interior was used as a warehouse for the storage of food. (Pariserve)
Restoration Work
It in the Romantic era that the restoration started. The
cathedral was saved by Violett-le-Duc who, in 1841, began the
process of restoring her many of the sculptures had become
unrecognizable so he designed new ones to replace them bearing
in mind to carry on the same early Gothic style. And to this day
the restoration continues due to a programme started in 1991.
Works Cited
Archiseek. Online
architecture of Paris. Desire Publishing
Ltd.http://www.archiseek.com/guides/france/paris/notredame/index.htmlblishing.
22.09.02.
Discoverfrance.
History of Notre Dame de Paris. http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/Paris/Monuments-Paris/Notre-Dame.shtml.
22.090
Pariserve. A bit of
history.
http://www.pariserve.tm.fr/English/paris/ileCite/Notre-Dame.htm
The Rosings Art
Gallery. http://www.rosings.com/goyles.html. 22.09.02
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