The Towers West Facade Notre Dame Paris

by Debbie Oppermann

Title

The Towers West Facade Notre Dame Paris

Artist

Debbie Oppermann

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

"The Towers West Facade Notre Dame Paris" by Debbie Oppermann. On our way to Egypt, we had about a 5 or 6 hour layover in Paris France. We had planned on hiring a taxi to take us into the city of Paris to tour some of the historic sites and of course Notre Dame Cathedral was on our list. We didn't have long but I am so happy that we did stop for a bit to just revel in the beauty of this historic Catholic cathedral. The three portals in the west facade, portal of the Last Judgement, portal of the Virgin and portal of St Anne are amazing.
Four buttresses support the façade, two for each tower, and frame the three portals. On them are niches housing large statues restored by Viollet-le-Duc in the 19th century. The central part of the Façade of Notre-Dame includes the Gallery of Kings, the Rose Window and the Gallery of Chimeras. The rose window of the West Façade of Notre-Dame is 9.60 metres in diameter. The oldest rose window installed in the cathedral, it dates from 1225 and forms a halo above the Virgin with Child statue placed in front of it. It has retained from the Middle-Ages its original glass and tracery. The rose window depicts symbolic scenes from the Zodiacs and the Labors of the Months.The Grand Gallery, also known as the Chimeras Gallery (Galerie des Chimères) connects the South and North towers. The towers are not exactly identical. The North tower is slightly stronger and larger than the South Tower. It seems that from medieval documents it was planned to crown the towers by spires. During its restoration of Notre-Dame in the mid-19th century, architect Viollet-le-Duc did not follow the initial project and Notre-Dame was left without spires. Both towers reach a height of 69 metres. The South Tower houses the enormous bell ‘Emmanuel’ accessible via wooden stairs. Notre-Dame’s biggest and oldest bell was cast in 1631. Legend has it that Parisians threw their jewels and gold in the molten metal to cast the bell and it is thanks to these that Emmanuel sounds a pure F. The West façade of Notre-Dame cathedral is a remarkable Gothic masterpiece of simplicity and harmony. The West Façade of Notre-Dame cathedral took less a century to be built. Construction started in 1200 under the direction of Paris’ bishop Eudes de Sully.
Notre-Dame de Paris, Our Lady of Paris, also known as Notre-Dame Cathedral or simply Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France. The cathedral is considered to be one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture. The cathedral was begun in 1160 under Bishop Maurice de Sully and largely completed by 1260, though it was modified frequently in the following centuries. The cathedral is one of the most widely-recognized symbols of not only the city of Paris but the French nation. On 15 April 2019, the cathedral caught fire and suffered significant damage, including the collapse of the entire roof and the main spire and substantial damage to the rose windows. Many artifacts were saved and French President Emmanuel Macron has announced plans to rebuild.

Uploaded

April 15th, 2019

Colors

Embed

Share

Tags