We hadn’t planned on visiting Notre-Dame de Paris during our recent stay in Paris, but after receiving a lunch invitation from a dear friend who works nearby, we knew we had to check out the newly renovated cathedral. Our friend’s office is just across the street from the famous cathedral, and our noon rendez-vous with her allowed us time to visit the cathedral before lunch.
First, here’s a brief history of the cathedral. Construction began in 1163, and took many more years to complete. It was mostly done by 1260, but was officially completed by 1345. It is rich with architectural ingenuity, including flying buttresses, gargoyles, statues of saints, kings and rose windows, just to name a few, all of which beautifully showcase its French Gothic architectural style.
It has over 110 stained glass windows and houses the largest pipe organ in France.
It endured much desecration over the centuries including during the French Revolution in the 1790s. One of the goals of the revolutionists was to strip the Catholic Church of its power which included pillaging and vandalizing religious relics, and even decapitating some of the statues. During that time, public worship was banned and Notre-Dame was used for secular purposes. Thankfully, restoration occurred during the mid 1800s, which was motivated by Victor Hugo’s famous novel, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.
More damage occurred during WWI, when it was shelled by the Germans, which resulted in fire damage to the roof and wooden pews. And more recently, as many will remember, a massive fire occurred in April, 2019 which resulted in the closure of the cathedral for five years.
The statues of saints and kings on the outside of the building are also very interesting, with their own intriguing history. This one is of St. Denis and a few friends, the first Bishop of Paris.
Apparently he ended up on the wrong side of the Roman authorities, and was beheaded. Legend has it that after his beheading, he picked up his head and walked north. The area where he finally fell and died is known as St. Denis.
On our first visit back in the mid 1990s, there was just a handful of people waiting to get in; that certainly wasn’t the case a few months ago!!
That first visit was on a weekday in the spring. During that visit, we climbed the 367 steps to explore the belfry, et, bien sur, we climbed the next set of 147 steps to the top of the south tower; whew! The views from the top are absolutely amazing. However, once you start climbing, or descending, there’s no place to stop, and there are people in front of and behind you, so this climb is not for everyone.
The next three photos are old snapshots from our visit in the mid-1990s.
On another visit, in April, 2005, we visited Notre Dame the day after Pope John Paul II died. There were hundreds of tourists visiting that day, along with just a handful of faithful mourners, near the alter listening to the priest as he prayed for the deceased Pope and his followers.
Returning to our most recent visit in June, we arrived and waited in a very long line to get in. The entire time I was thinking back to our first visit when it was mostly empty; heavy sigh. Mais,c’est toujours gratuit! But, it’s still free to get in.
The 2019 fire destroyed much of the roof, attic and spire. A five year renovation project included many repairs and improvements including cleaning the interior of smoke damage, stabilizing the towers, buttresses and much more. Click here if you’re interested in learning more about the most recent repairs. The interior is even more stunning now.
After our visit, we hurried off to meet Florence for a delicious lunch. But, can you believe it?! We were so busy talking and getting caught up, that I didn’t take one photo of our amazing lunch! It was just so nice to be with a dear friend from another continent; that’s where my focus was.
Even though the cathedral was packed with visitors, I’m glad we visited. It is even more spectacular now than ever, and definitely worth a visit.
We’re currently on a road trip in northern California, click here to read theTravelsketcher’s post about our trip so far.
As always, I would love to hear from you, so leave a comment if you’d like.
Wishing you grand adventures,
Tricia
I’ve only visited le Notre-Dame prior to the 2019 fires, so it’s really cool to see photos of it on the inside completely restored afterwards. Looks even more stunning than ever! Also love the photos of your visit from the 1990s; what a throwback! Thanks for sharing, Tricia, and enjoy your trip in NorCal!
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