Destination: Notre Dame Cathedral — Part 2
Travel through time and discover just what it takes to survive revolutions, wars and the destruction of fires
Notre Dame has weathered the years and surprisingly still stands tall and remains the symbol of the city that grew up around it for many today.
If you haven’t read Part 1, you can access it here:
Exterior architecture
If you’ve read Part 1 of our Notre Dame deep dive, you would already know that the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is a masterpiece of Gothic architecture, and is world renowned for this.
And the gothic architecture is no more apparent than in its exterior. A stone building balancing structural forces to stay upright, what more could you need? And the fact that this building was built in the Middle Ages is a testament to the architects of the time and the techniques they employed with such mastery.
Naturally, as a religious building, Notre Dame is built in the shape of a Latin cross, and has four main facades. The western façade, the bottom of the cross, is the main entrance and the one you would enter through should you ever wish to visit Notre Dame. Then you have the north and south facades, they’re the arms of the cross or the transept. And then the eastern façade is a rounded apse at the top of the cross. Which is actually probably a decent place to start as we begin our walk around of this terrific cathedral.
Notre Dame’s construction actually started with the apse, making it the oldest part of the building. You’ll recognise it from the outside because of this semicircular shape and flying buttresses that look as if they’re holding the thing up. They were actually added by Jean Ravy in the 14th century when he replaced some of the buttresses lining the choir.
Speaking of flying buttresses, the one’s at Notre Dame are valued for the architectural feat they are. The fact that they do their job exceptionally well while still being so tall and thin is something amazing. Naturally, part of their function is to support the wall their leaning against from the weight of the roof, but the one’s at Notre Dame have a dual function. They also help rainwater drain away from the side of the wall. Pretty great use of what you already have.
Speaking of rainwater, Notre Dame also employs the use of gargoyles. Prominent in the Disney film The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the gargoyles are decorative elements that serve a very practical purpose. Just like the flying buttresses, they prevent rainwater from running down the stone and eroding it over time.
Placed at the end of the gutters, they stick out a little way to ensure that the rainwater runs freely down to the ground and not against the wall. Designed at the same time as the cathedral’s main architecture, they too had to be in line with the Gothic theme and so are naturally in the form of scary and fantastical animals.
Let’s now wander around to the south side of the cathedral and have a look at the Saint-Etienne portal, or the door dedicated to Saint Etienne. Some of might be thinking, ‘why Saint Stephen?’ or ‘why Saint Etienne?’ if you’re French. This bloke was chosen because he was the first Christian martyr, so I guess they had to honour him somehow, and why not a door?
Between the two doors that make up the Saint Etienne portal, you’ll find what else but a statue of the Saint. On either side of the doors you’ll also find statues, this time of the apostles. These guys were also replaced in the 19th century after having gone missing during the Revolution.
The space immediately above the doors is known as the tympanum, which in the case of Etienne’s portal tells the story of his life in bas-relief. It’s split up into three levels, the bottom level shows Etienne preaching Christianity and being brought before the judge. Things don’t work out too well for Etienne in the middle level as he is depicted being stoned and then entombed. Then in the top level he is being blessed by Christ and surrounded by the ever present angels.
Moving up from there, you’ll see a triple arch above the door, this is decorated with 21 sculptures of martyrs. Then even further up you’ll be able to see the exterior side of the south rose window we spoke about last episode.
Let’s now wander over to the other side and have a look at the north façade. Pretty similar to the one on the south end, with a statue of the Virgin and Child standing in the space between the two doors. While this statue survived the ravages of the Revolution, the Child did not, and had to be replaced. Same too for the six statues of the wisemen either side of the doors.
Sitting in the space just above the doors, the lower half of the tympanum, there are four scenes depicting the childhood of Christ. While the upper half represents the Theophilus miracle, which, if like me, you have never heard of this miracle, here’s a quick recap.
So Theophilus is a young clerk who is jealous of the bishop, who knows what for. He, Theophilus, who lives below the poverty line has decided to supplant the bishop and live in bishoppy luxury, so he makes a deal with the devil and sells his soul in return for humiliating the bishop. The bishop is thus humiliated, but Theophilus then realises he actually likes his soul and doesn’t want the devil to have it. So stuck in a pretty rough spot he implores the Virgin Mary to help. She does so and through magic cancels Theophilus’ deal with the devil. Then of course Theophilus repents because he’s so grateful. And he lives happily ever after, even if things didn’t exactly work out for the bishop, or the devil.
Alright, now let’s head round to the western façade, this is the side you would enter the Cathedral as a tourist, and with the number of tourists coming to see Notre Dame each year, good thing it’s got three entrances. The western façade is actually bloody massive and probably the side you think of when you think of Notre Dame. It is pretty iconic, with its three portals and two towers housing the famous bells.
Let’s start at the bottom and work our way up into the heavens, shall we?
So along the lower part of the façade you’ll find the three portals. On the left is the Portal of the Virgin, by the name I’m sure you can figure out that we have yet another thing, this time a door, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Much like the north portal, a statue of the Virgin and Child is also taking pride of place in the space between the doors, but this time they are in the action of trampling a serpent, which in this case represents Satan. On the left of the doors are a representation of the four seasons and on the right a representation of the four ages of life, but don’t ask me what they are specifically. The tympanum above the doors is also split into three sections. The bottom part shows prophets and the Kings of Israel holding small boxes, with the Ark of the Covenant, which represents Mary, in the centre. The middle part shows the death of Mary, she’s surrounded by Jesus and his apostles, with angels lifting her shroud to heaven. At the top, Mary is in heaven, and is being crowned as the Queen of Heaven by an angel as she sits beside her son. And directly above, in the four arches of the portal, you can see angels, kings and prophets who make up the heavenly court.
Now over on the right we have the Saint Anne Portal. The Saint Anne portal was made first, believed to be around 1200, and so is the oldest. This portal is dedicated to Saint Anne, who was the mother of Mary and depicts the childhood of Christ. In fact, you might notice that the style of this portal is a little different to the other two, and that’s because some bits were from the old Saint Etienne Cathedral which were saved and added to this portal. So it definitely has a more Romanesque style.
Between the two doors we have Saint Marcel, who, it turns out, was the bishop of Paris in the 4th century. The statues either side of the doors represent kings and queens and what not.
Then in the lower part of the tympanum, we have the marriage of Joachim and Anne, Mary’s parents and therefore Jesus’ grandparents, and the marriage of Mary and Joseph, Jesus’ parents. And the upper part is all about the life of Christ, you’ve got the Annunciation, or when the angel Gabriel announced to Mary she was going to have a kid; there’s the Visitation to Mary, where Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, stops by Mary’s for a cup of tea; the Nativity, or Jesus being born in a barn; and the Epiphany, which for you and me might be a revelation or having a bright idea, but in this context it’s the three Kings standing around admiring the baby Jesus.
And finally, in the middle is the Portal of the Last Judgement. Three guesses for what this one’s all about. That’s right its all about the judgement that God passes down when you die. So basically it’s God deciding your qualifications on getting into heaven.
In between the two doors, we have Christ himself this time, standing on a plinth presumably in the middle of a teaching. Either side of the doors are six statues this time, one of each of the apostles. Much like the other statues, these were also destroyed in the Revolution and had to be replaced.
So up above the doors we have three sections. The lower section shows the dead rising from their graves. The dead are actually quite diverse in this decoration, you’ve got a pope, women, a king, warriors and an African man. In the middle section stands the Archangel Michael weighing the souls of those wanting to get into heaven, and you’ve got two cheeky demons trying to tip the scales in their favour. Of course the ones who pass this test are led to heaven and paradise, while the ones who don’t are chained and led to hell. And up the top we have Christ seated in all his glory and showing off his crucifixion wounds. One side you have angels holding the instruments of the crucifixion, and on the other a kneeling Mary and Saint John.
And as seen in the other portals, the celestial court can be found in the arches above the doors. So you’ve got your angels, patriarchs, prophets, theologians, martyrs and virgins all represented.
So why so much decoration for some simple doors? Well remembering that Notre Dame was built in the Middle Ages, when literacy wasn’t exactly what it is today, meant that these sculptures of biblical figures was another way of telling the stories of the gospel and history of Christians to the faithful, but through pictures.
Alright, we’re still not finished with this western façade. Above the three portals there is a horizontal band called the Gallery of the Kings. We spoke briefly about the issues this band had throughout the French Revolution, but the band holds 28 statues. Each representing the 28 generations of the Kings of Judea, those who preceded Christ.
But the illiterate of the 18th century, didn’t quite understand the difference. They heard ‘king’ and naturally associated them with the oppressive monarchy they knew, and destroyed the statues believing them to be representations of French Kings. So I guess the whole pictures telling stories thing didn’t always work out. And then we also already know that they were restored during the big restoration of the 19th century. What’s hilarious about this, is that 21 of the original statues’ heads were found in 1977, when restoration work was being done in the 9th arrondissement, so clearly someone thought they were worth keeping, and you can see these heads on exhibit at the National Museum of the Middle Ages. Fascinatingly, these originally heads have traces of colour, proving that, at least part of the 13th century cathedral was painted.
Just above the Gallery of the Kings is a small terrace with an open balustrade that stands in front of the Gallery of the Virgin. Now while not as wide as the Gallery of the Kings with just three figures, there are two angels on either side of a statue of the Virgin, it’s actually the rose window in the centre that catches your eye. And our mate, Viollet-le-Duc added statues of Adam and Eve in the middle of the windows either side of the Rose.
Moving further up, it’s hard not to notice the two square towers that rise up out of the façade. Each reaching 69 metres in height, you can walk up to top if you’re willing to tackle 422 stairs. Each of the four sides of the towers have two high arched bays, with those gargoyles we talked about earlier part of the decoration. If you do tackle the ridiculous number of stairs you will be welcomed with stunning views over Paris, and it’s actually the height of the towers that allowed the people of Paris to orient themselves, even if they were far away from the centre of the city. During the initial construction in the 13th century, spires were meant to sit on top of each of the towers, but for whatever reason they were never built.
Now if you take a close look at the space between the two towers you will see some odd creatures sitting atop the balustrade. But they’re not gargoyles, so what is their purpose? Well these guys are called grotesques, and they’re not gargoyles, as they don’t have any practical use, they are purely decoration. Designed and added by none other than Viollet-le-Duc himself, if you look close enough you’ll be able to count 54. And also unlike the gargoyles, these guys are in shapes you would recognise. You’ve got a pelican, a dragon, the Stryge, which is the most famous one of all, and a Cerberus, or the three-headed dog.
Alright enough about the statues, let’s get stuck into the famous bells of Notre Dame. There are 12 bells, each made of bronze, with the ‘bourbon’ being the oldest and largest. Each of the bells has a first name that pays homage to an important figure in the Cathedral’s life.
The bells take up residence in the two towers above the Western façade. With the largest bell sitting in the tower to the south, and it is rung for special occasions like Christmas, Easter, Pentecost and All Saints’ Day, and you can’t forget about the death or the election of the Pope. And in the north tower, you’ve got four bells that are rung daily, giving the time to Parisians.
Each bell is recast surprisingly regularly, and has to be done with extreme precision to ensure the correct tone. Since 1769, Notre Dame has had 20 bells come and go. But like most of Notre Dame though, the bells weren’t spared the French Revolution. All apart from the ‘Bourdon’, were broken apart and melted down, with the only surviving bell being returned to its tower by Napoleon in 1802. Thankfully though, the bells all survived the 2019 fire and remain in their towers, although they were cleaned so that they would be rung to mark the first anniversary of the fire in 2020.
While we will learn about the fate of the spire in a little bit, let’s find out about its origins. At 96 metres in height, the spire was just another architectural feat in a building of architectural feats. Now while seeing the spire topple during the 2019 fire was a bit traumatic, it actually wasn’t Notre Dame’s original spire. From last episode we know that that one was removed in the 18th century because of the risk it posed to those on the ground if it fell. But of course, our mate, Viollet-le-Duc decided to replace the deconstructed spire in the 19th century, and while the OG spire held bells, this second edition spire would be purely ornamental.
Being made of 500 tons of wood and covered in 250 tons of lead meant that it really didn’t stand much of chance up against the intense heat of the fire, leading the frame to collapse. But the spire wasn’t sitting up there all alone. Screwed to the base of spire were yet more statues, who represented the 12 apostles and 4 evangelists. And every spire needs a top, Notre Dame’s spire was topped with a rooster sculpture, which is supposedly the symbol of France. Thankfully though, part of the 2019 restoration work was to repair the spire, and that meant removing the statues for their own restoration work and so these were safely tucked away from the devastation of the fire.
Relics
Now what does every church see as a symbol of legitimacy? That’s an easy one. Relics. And good grief does Notre Dame claim to have the jackpot. The Cathedral is home to a literal treasury of religious objects and liturgical elements, to the point that at the end of the 18th century, it was said to have one of the most valuable treasuries in all of Europe, but of course it all went walkabout during the French Revolution. And then in 1801, thanks to donations from popes and sovereigns, there was an effort to bring the old collection back together. But today we’re just going to cover the most exciting pieces.
So in 1239, Saint Louis, who at the time was going by Louis IX, brought back a handful of relics, reportedly from Christ’s crucifixion, from Jerusalem to be housed at Notre Dame. And in this haul was the crown of thorns, a piece of the cross and a nail from the cross. So how did Louis IX find this very significant and supposedly expensive treasure? Well, while we can safely presume that the relics all had an origin story based in Jerusalem, it’s believed that between the 7th and 10th centuries they were transferred over to Constantinople to keep them safe from looters. Where in 1238, Baudouin II de Courtenay, the Latin emperor of Byzantium, found them in his possession. Needing a little bit of cash, the Emperor went around his palace and found a couple things to sell off. With Louis IX now having bought the supposed crown of thorns.
Back in Paris, Louis then went ahead and had the Saint-Chapelle reliquary built to house these precious objects. After being moved around a bit due to the Revolution, they found themselves back in Notre Dame’s treasury in 1806.
The crown, of course, is considered the most precious. And according to the wishes of Louis IX, is keep in the back until Easter comes around. I suppose that’s fitting. The crown itself is made up of 21cm rushes held into a circular shape by gold thread. Naturally everyone wanted a piece of this crown, so over the centuries, bits of thorn have been taken off and handed out as gifts, so don’t expect a fully thorned crown. Since 1896, the crown has been housed in a crystal and golden tube, obviously for protection.
Now the fragment of wood that is supposedly from the crucifixion cross was rescued from the reliquary during the French Revolution. So whether this is actually a piece of the cross or a piece of the reliquary, I guess is up for debate. But probably not with the true believers. Again the fragment of wood finds itself housed snuggly in a protective crystal case.
Now the nail, which is a whopping 9cm, came from the treasure of the Holy Sepulchre. So way back in 799, its said that the Patriarch of Jerusalem gave it over to Emperor Charlemagne with a couple of other relics. And then a later on, King Charles II took it from Aix-la-Chapelle, where it had ended up, and gave it as a gift to the Abbey of St Denis. Then again, during the French Revolution the nail was miraculously saved together with the fragment of wood and today it too is kept in a crystal tube.
So some exciting things to check out if you head on over to the reliquary of Notre Dame.
Standing in modern times
As we know, Notre Dame has been around for a fair bit of time. So it’s seen a lot.
Back in 1905, Notre Dame became the possession of the French State after the Law of Separation of Church and State was confirmed. It was around this time that we get some 20th century modifications. Like the white glass added in the 18th century was swapped out for some stained glass. And in 1989, Jean Touret, a respected sculptor, added a new and contemporary altar to the transept. And then of course another deep cleaning of the exterior stones, that pollution cakes on quick.
Now after the French Revolution, everyone looked around and saw how monuments weren’t exactly treated with the greatest respect. So it was decided that a list of monuments to be preserved would be drawn up. And in 1837, the Commission of Historical Monuments, was created with the aim of registering and classifying the buildings they wanted to keep around. But it wasn’t until 1862 that the first list was created by the City of Paris, and of course Notre Dame was included.
In 1944, the bells were used to signal a significant moment in the history of Paris when they were rung on the 25th August for the liberation of Paris from the Nazis.
1991 was an exciting time as UNESCO had finally declared Notre Dame a World Heritage Site. They even said:
[This] architectural masterpiece [constitutes] a definite reference in the diffusion of Gothic architecture.
Thanks to our mate, Viollet-le-Duc, of course it does.
And 2013 was an even more exciting time, as Notre Dame celebrated its 850th birthday. For the grand event, the Great Organ was renovated along with some new and improved lighting options.
And then, not too long ago in 2018, Notre Dame officially became the most visited site in all of France, counting roughly 13 million visitors each year, that’s around 30 000 a day. Of course our numbers aren’t super exact. Have you ever tried to count to 30 000? It’s difficult.
Restoring the Cathedral — the second time
Okay so we know that the last major restoration Notre Dame went through was in the 19th century under the capable and interesting hands of Viollet-le-Duc, but since then pollution and time have not been kind to the Cathedral. And so another restoration was decided.
The plan was to clean the whole of the exterior of the building, again, but more importantly to address the structural issues that were the result of weather, pollution, and stone of inferior quality being used in the last restoration. If left unattended, Notre Dame would most likely start to go downhill pretty fast. So the French Government set to work to address these critical issues, and a project to do just that was launched in 2018.
But as we know, things don’t always turn out the way we planned.
The fire
It was 2019, on the 15th April, that those in the streets of Paris started to notice smoke rising up out of Notre Dame. Smoke quickly turned into quite significant flames. After drawing quite a crowd, there was a collective gasp as the spire buckled under the weight of melting lead and charred wood and the roof of the great Notre Dame collapsed.
The 15th April 2019 certainly was a traumatic day, especially for those in and around Notre Dame. The cause of the fire, it turned out, was a simple one. The construction site they had set up for the second big restoration of Notre Dame had allowed a small spark to come to life. With the forest of oak framework holding up the roof happily catching light, it took just 90 minutes for the thing to give way.
Amazingly, the whole roof itself did not collapse, it was actually the weight of the collapsing spire that broke through the roof creating three gaping holes. Now I’m sure I don’t have to say it. But isn’t this just a testament to the architectural ingenuity of the forest framework, that even in the face of a catastrophic fire the whole thing still held. Honestly, it boggles the mind.
But with three big holes in it, the whole structure was compromised, so modern day engineers ran around frantically installing supports to keep the whole place standing. After this was sorted, the only thing that was of deep concern was the fact that the holes in the roof now left the whole Cathedral open to the elements. And knowing how the harder limestone exterior handles the elements, spoiler: not good, it was a pretty big anxiety as to how the softer limestone used for the interior would go if left for too long.
Amazingly, the response to save Notre Dame was swift. 400 firefighters heeded the call to save the grand building. And thank goodness they did, it was because of them that the bell towers, rose windows and the main structure in general is still with us. Not to mention the human chain the firefighters formed to save the priceless relics and works of art.
Hit by the emotion of it all, the former Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë said this about what happened:
It’s an inestimable loss … Notre-Dame de Paris has to live. We must not resign ourselves to this … this is the heritage of all humanity.
And with the plucky spirit of the French, it was conclusively decided that another restoration and reconstruction would take place to restore Notre Dame to its previous state once before. Luckily we don’t have a modern-day Viollet-le-Duc deciding what that state was, with the general consensus being it will be restored back to the way it was before the fire, but continuing on with the restoration work that was initially planned, and a bit extra, like fixing the roof and building a new spire.
What’s a bit devastating though is the damage that the interior did have to endure. The water the firefighters used to fight the fire, became a necessary evil when it soaked the interior, and then of course the rainwater from the holes in the roof. But before they could do anything to make the place watertight again, the work on removing 40 000 burnt and melted scaffolding needed to be done, which only delayed the fix and extended the damage.
Luckily though, Notre Dame is admired the world over, and almost immediately large sums of money started being donated from everywhere to get the place back in tip top shape.
So with the influx of cash, attention turned to getting the place rebuilt. Emmanuel Macron, who you’ll recognise as the French President, made a declaration that the place would be fixed to a point where it can be open to the public by 2024, in time for the Olympic Games, set to take place in Paris. Now that is quite the timeline. Even with extra renovating and restoring being able to continue after 2024, to have the place in a position that the public can safely walk in and around is a pretty massive job to do in five years. It’s a big ask. And what’s even more shocking is they’re still sticking to this 2024 deadline even in the face of a pandemic.
The initial assessments and report of the damage and what needed to happen to get Notre Dame back to normal proved to indeed be long. We know the spire and a large portion of the roof was no more, the walls of the nave, choir and transepts had severe water damage and structurally they weren’t exactly sound either. The north bell tower was still standing and seemed to be okay despite some charring, thankfully with no damage to the priceless bells.
So what needs to happen now that we know the extent of the damage? We head into the Safety Phase. In mid 2019 works started on making Notre Dame safe so that the restoration could begin … again.
Mainly what happened was a tarp was put over the roof, making the place waterproof once again, fortification of the gables was needed to protect the rose windows and keep them in good shape. As well as fortification of the pillars holding up the ceiling above the nave. The flying buttresses, weakened in the fire also needed some reinforcing, as well as protection of the gargoyles, grostesques and other sculptural and decorative elements to keep them safe while work carried on. Then the melted and twisted scaffolding that was in use before the fire, needed to be removed to make room for unmelted and straight scaffolding. And most importantly lead decontamination needed to take place of the whole building, to ensure a safe work environment. Which was quite the task, seeing as the lead from the melted roof just got into every single nook and cranny.
And with all that done, we are ready for another go at a major restoration.
Restoring the Cathedral — the third time
Thanks to Covid the restoration was put on a three month mandatory pause, which meant that by the 8th June 2020 they were back in there and getting stuff done.
By the 9th July, the Chief Architects of Historical Monuments had come up with the official restoration plan and took this time to present it to the National Commission for Heritage and Architecture, who are the ones who handle all the important restoration projects in France. Thankfully there are no Viollet-le-Duc’s here as they’ve promised to:
…respect the previously existing structure of the cathedral and to restore the monument to its last complete, coherent and known state.
So funny enough it will be Viollet-le-Duc’s 19th century spire thats rebuilt exactly, even going so far as to use the original materials. But the report doesn’t stop there, is goes a step further and says:
…these restoration measures will ensure the authenticity, harmony and coherence of this masterpiece of Gothic architecture.
With a couple extra pandemic delays thrown in for good measure, the last of the burned scaffolding was removed towards the end of November. Which meant that work could finally get started on the interior of the Cathedral, while they build up scaffolding, this time on the outside of Notre Dame, so that reconstruction efforts can happen out there as well, like helping the buttresses to carry the weight of the walls.
The Grand Organ, which we’ve already talked about was dismantled and removed in early December of 2021 and is due to be reassembled back in Notre dame in April 2024, so cutting it mighty fine to the Olympics.
With the Safety Phase completed by the end of 2021, 2022’s focus is on rebuilding the Cathedral, with cleaning the interior taking precedence. And it’s true, you just can’t work in a messy environment.
In order to get the roof back up and being a roof, 1000 oak trees from 200 French forests were chosen in early 2021 to be harvested. It’s these lucky trees who get to hold up the roof of Notre Dame and stand tall and proud as the Cathedral’s new spire. So from September 2021 to January 2022, 42 sawmills throughout France were put to work meticulously processing the quite large amount of trees. Just eight of the 1000 oak trees picked, each over 20 metres tall, will be the chosen few to make up the spire. It was in the middle of 2022 that the new spire began its assembly, and you can expect to see the complete spire grace the roof of Notre Dame once more sometime throughout 2023, if there are no more setbacks.
Of course work on reconstructing the roof is currently underway, but it’s tricky business because it needs 26 timber frames to prevent the original parts of the roof from collapsing further.
Thanks to pollution the exterior of Notre Dame was in a pretty bad way even before the fire. For the moment though, the main focus is on the interior of the Cathedral so that it can be opened back up to the public by the set due date. Because of this, the only work on the exterior so far has been the bracing of the flying buttresses. It’s most likely that it’s this restoration work on the exterior that will be ongoing after the 2024 deadline.
Visiting the cathedral today
If you were to visit Notre Dame before the 2019 fire, you would have been one of about 13 million, you would have been able to marvel at the exterior and take in the interior. Since the fire, the Cathedral and the surrounding area has been closed to the public while work on consolidating and reconstructing Notre Dame continues. Though you can still marvel at the exterior, you’ll just have to do it at a bit of a distance.
When it is open, Notre Dame is an operating church with services just like any other. It’s just this one also has tourists wandering around. So if you’re in the area, make sure to stop by and see how the progress is coming along. And then make sure to revisit once it’s back and open to see the place probably in the cleanest state it’s ever been in.
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Originally published at https://destinationhistorypod.com on November 20, 2022.
