Cathedral of Notre Dame: Paris, France
About Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral in Paris:
Certainly the most well-known Church in Paris, Notre Dame de Paris took 182 years to build, with the work being carried out under a succession of bishops and master builders. The church was finally consecrated in 1345.
Notre Dame de Paris was visited by some 13 million people every year up until the fire in 2019.
Structurally, the use of flying buttresses (which gave the necessary structural support) was one of its most prominent features. It’s also famous for its 8,000-pipe organ.
England’s King Henry VI was crowned King of France in the cathedral in 1431. In 1793, Catholic worship was banned in Paris as a result of the French Revolution and it became the “temple of reason”. Notre-Dame Cathedral was looted and vandalized in 1792.
The West Facade and the statues of the Kings of Judea:
The west façade, which was adorned with statues of 28 Kings of Judea dating back to 1230, were pulled down and decapitated in the square in front of the cathedral. In 1792, revolutionaries also decapitated these 28 statues from Notre Dame’s facade, mistaking them for French monarchs. The heads were thought lost forever, possibly destroyed or sold as building materials; but in 1977, workers renovating a courtyard in Paris’ 9th arrondissement uncovered hundreds of fragments of stone sculptures. Experts confirmed they were the missing heads of Notre Dame’s kings, probably just dumped there after being removed for the Cathedral.
Today, 22 of the heads have been restored and are displayed at the Cluny Museum in Paris. Their discovery is considered one of the most remarkable archaeological finds in the city’s modern history.
The Cathedral was restored in the late 18th century and Napoleon I had his coronation as Emperor there in 1804 (he crowned himself).
The Cathedral has survived wars and revolutions and represents an outstanding example of Gothic architecture. The Cathedral can hold almost 6,000 people. The artwork inside and outside of the Cathedral is an outstanding example of religious art, with thousands of images in its stained glass windows, sculptures and gargoyles.
And just outside the Cathedral is a point called “Paris Point Zero”. It is a small plaque located outside the Cathedral, and often overlooked by visitors. All other locations are thought to be measured as a distance radiating from this point.
The Cathedral has three exquisite medieval rose windows that are among the main points of interest in the Cathedral. The west rose of Notre Dame of Paris (c. 1220) is considered one of the finest. The fire left these intact, though they suffered some damage.
The Chapels in Notre Dame de Paris:
Additional chapels were added to the interior of Notre Dame in the 13th century, as shown in the map below. Those chapels placed around the choir are called “radiating chapels” and are each dedicated to a particular person or saint. During the Middle Ages, wealthy families had chapels consecrated to ensure regular services given in memory of deceased relatives. The families created a foundation, offered an annuity to a chaplain, and monopolized a dedicated space in order to do this. In the 14th century, the number of foundations increased, as did the number of chapels.
Today, there are 29 chapels in Notre Dame de Paris.
Chapels are decorated with an altar, a light, statues or paintings, reliquaries of a patron saint, tombs, and sometimes elaborate wall decorations. Drawings show us that many elements from Notre-Dame’s chapels were destroyed during the French Revolution.
Several bishops and archbishops of Paris are buried in these chapels. The decoration of the tomb of Simon Matifas de Bucy, Bishop from 1290 to 1304, is the only remnant painted in the 13th century that remains in Notre-Dame Cathedral. Among the many engraved markers, only that of Canon Étienne Yvert, who died in 1468, remains.
Here is the floor plan of Notre Dame de Paris:
Notre Dame Cathedral houses two major relics relating to Jesus:
1. The Crown of Thorns (brought to Paris by King Louis IX in the 13th century).
2. A Fragment of the True Cross.
These were originally kept in Saint Chapelle, but later moved to Notre Dame. They are displayed once a year on Good Friday.
Notre Dame houses two additional items of interest:
Notre Dame de Paris also houses the remains of a Chinese Saint:
Among the several chapels in the Basilica is the Chapel of the Holy Childhood, holding the relics of Saint Paul Chen, a young Chinese seminarian martyr who was a member of The French Holy Childhood Association in China, a Catholic children’s association for the benefit of foreign missions. It is one of four Pontifical Mission Societies and is dedicated to fostering children’s awareness of the missionary nature of the Church.
Paul was martyred for the faith on July 29, 1861. He was Beatified by Pius X in 1908 and his relics were transferred to Paris and placed here in the Chapel of the Holy Childhood on June 10, 1920. On October 1, 2000, Pope John Paul II canonized him in St. Peter’s Square as part of the group of 120 Chinese martyrs.
In addition, Notre Dame de Paris houses the tunic which belonged to King Louis IX ( Saint Louis).
Preparing Notre Dame de Paris for the Jubilee Year 2000:
The exterior was cleaned in preparation for the Jubilee Year 2000 and now looks much like it did many centuries ago. Just behind Notre Dame…underground…you will find The Mémorial des Martyrs de la Déportation, a memorial to the 200,000 people (almost all of whom were Jews) who were deported from Vichy France to the Nazi concentration camps during World War II. It is fittingly on the site of a former morgue. Rather sobering when you realize how many were deported and killed.
Notre Dame de Paris burns in 2019:
Tragically, on April 15, 2019, a fire broke out that destroyed the roof and much of the interior. The loss of this landmark…both religious and secular…was felt for many years.
The sacristy is where many of the Notre-Dame de Paris’s treasures are stored, and where priests prepare for celebrations and services. Located adjacent to the cathedral, it was built on the site of a chapel in 528 AD by King Childebert of the Merovingian dynasty Fortunately, the relics and other items stored in the sacristy were largely undamaged by the fire.
Re-opening of Notre Dame Cathedral:
The reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris is set for December 8, 2024. The supervision of the restoration is entrusted to the architect Philippe Villeneuve. Much of the beauty has been restored….with the exception, perhaps, of the main altar: with its modernistic design, it is not quite in keeping with the French Gothic design of the building itself and the subject of much criticism. To us, it does seem rather out of place…..and many seem to agree.
Inside the altar will be the relics of four Saints and one Blessed: Saint Madeleine-Sophie Barat, Saint Marie-Eugénie Milleret, Saint Catherine Labouré, Saint Charles de Foucauld and Blessed Vladimir Ghika.
On November 15, 2024 the statue of the Virgin and Child, affectionately known as “Our Lady of Paris” and miraculously spared from the flames, was processed from the church of Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois where it had been safeguarded after the fire and was returned to the Cathedral in an emotional torchlight procession.
This symbolic moment marked a key milestone ahead of the official reopening of Notre Dame, scheduled for December 8, 2024.
Finding Notre Dame Cathedral:
Possibly the most visited site in Paris, especially for Catholics, it is easy to find Notre Dame de Paris, located on Île de la Cité: the island in the middle of the River Seine in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. We recommend “Little Black Book of Paris” and “Streetwise Maps” to help you find your way.
Address: 6 Parvis Notre-Dame – Pl. Jean-Paul II, 75004
GPS coordinates: 48° 51′ 9.6120” N, 2° 20′ 57.4512” E
Tel: +33 (0)1 42 34 56 10
Click here for the official Notre Dame (Paris) website Be sure to check this out before your visit. Lots of really great information!