Description
Notre - Dame
For us, the Notre Dame is the most famous church of Paris.
It is one of the most beautiful Gothic architecture, and no other building has such an intense association with the history of Paris.
The Cathedral was built on the site of former churches and a Gallo-Roman temple of two millennia ago.
You should visit the impressive interior with its high vaulted central nave. Traversed by a huge transept at each end of where you can admire the beautiful medieval rose windows.
In this enormous majestic building, kings and emperors were crowned and royal Crusaders blessed. But in spite of that, it was the scene of uproar as well. Revolutionaries ransacked it, banished religion, changed it into a temple to the cult of reason, and used it to store wines. In 1804, Napoleon restored the religion while architect Viollet-Le-Duc later on restored the buildings, raised the Spire, fixed the gargoyles and replaced the missing statues.
To have a wonderful view of the back of the cathedral it is advisable to walk to the Square Jean XXIII the little park behind the Cathedral. From there you can see the spectacular flying buttresses at the east end of the Cathedral.
The Notre-Dame in figures:
- First stone laid by Pope Alexander III in 1163.
- Finished around 1330.
- The interior measures 130 meter long, 48 meter wide, and 35 meter high.
- Accommodation for at least 6000 people.
- Two towers of 69 meter each.
- The spire in the center with a height of 90 meter.
- The 13th-century South Rose window measures 13 meter high, it symbolizes Christ
in the center, surrounded by virgins, Saints and the 12 Apostles.
- The 13th-century North Rose window measures 21 meter high, it stands for
the Virgin surrounded by figures from the Old Testament.
- The spectacular flying buttresses have a span of 15 meter each.
- In the period 1990/1992 the organ equipped with 7800 pipes was restored for $ 2 million.
- Nearly 12 million visitors a year.
Opening hours:
Cathedral: Daily from 8.00 - 18.45 (19:45 Weekends)
Towers: (winter) 10.00 - 17.15 (summer) 09.30 - 18.00
Metro:
Cite line 4