Notre-Dame Cathedral (Paris)

The Cathedral of Notre-Dame ou Nossa Senhora de Paris, represents either the French Gothic style in all or its splendor.

The monument began to be built in 1163 and, since then, it is a fundamental reference in Western culture (the Cathedral is considered a UNESCO World Heritage Site).

No day April 15, 2019 to Catedral sofreu um fire of great proportions.

After over 850 years of existence, Notre-Dame de Paris receives, on average, 20 thousand visitors per year.

Characteristics of Notre-Dame Cathedral

The Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris was built not by means of small streets and many houses, a quite different context we compare as an open space that looks at rodeia.

Any mortal man who has come to the entrance of the church was immediately sentenced to incontestable greatness daquela mass of concrete full of symbols, legends and stories.

Therefore, in the first place we must highlight the monumentality and its symbolic power, sublining the importance of construction for Gothic art. Compatible with a vision of the teocêntrica world, each space of the Gothic building was diligently cared for and, embora muitas Once it does not have a specific function, each space receives detailed attention from crafts that certify that Deus I was watching.

I don't want to admire profusion of unique details In each section, just like those who are inaccessible or have a definite purpose. That geração will not be imported as a human being, and will not be able to absorb all the details of the effort. A mentality of two builders of the Cathedral was this: give all dignity to work as an offering to Deus.

A Cathedral is dedicated to Virgin Mary or Notre Dame (Nossa Senhora, in French). Maria, more than Deus, found a social ressonance in that women, each time more sozinhas because of crossed days, will become involved in spirituality in a different way.

This period coincided with the birth of theological humanism, which opened the way for a perception from um Deus mais next e a vindicação do mundo sensível (criação) as an expressão da luz divine.

A construção is looking for new architectural resources that will try to provide light and height, both in the works and in the plastic arts integrated into the building. Cadinho chests, counterforts, archbotantes (raised only for Notre-Dame), vitrais and rosettes uniram-se ao power of an art increasingly more naturalistic, which allows to express renewed faith of povo in relation to each other Deus.

On the floor of the Cathedral

On the floor of the Notre-Dame Cathedral, it looks like a Latin cross. The main nave has a total length of 127 meters and 48 meters long. Or transept, particularly short, was 14 meters long and 48 meters low, or short, the same as the length of the ship.

Distinguish a main ship and 4 laterals, for a total of 5 ships with double wandering. At the same time, the building reaches a maximum height of 96 meters and a total area of ​​5500 m².

Main facade

The western façade of Notre-Dame is basically composted by three horizontal sections.

At its base, three porticoes prepare two fiéis for an absolutely sub-player interior space.

The three porticoes, embora similar, different breeding processes, dimensions and express themes.

Portico of Santa Ana

Or first portico (or da esquerda) is consecrated to Santa Ana, mãe de Maria. A large part of the sculptures are not original, but more foram recovered from another church and reused. This explains the hieratic of the upper part of the peça, typical of the late Romanesque style. Here Virgem Maria seems rigid on her throne as a child.

In the central part we can see the representation of Maria's life, in the lower margin, the representation of Santa Ana and San Joaquín. The histories of Santa Ana and São Joaquim, as well as the infancy of Mary, were documented in the light of two apocryphal gospels.

Pórtico do Julgamento Final

The central portico is dedicated to the final stage. Christ as judge presides over supper at the upper margem, tilted by two angles on each side, and on either side of them, Saint John (à direita) and Virgin Mary (à esquerda). Na faixa do meio você can see the eleitos who use a coroa. No opposite side, or condemned. No center of faixa, or arcanjo São Miguel carries a balance of justice, while a demon tends to tip it in his favor.

A lower row represents a resurrection of two mortals, not final two tempos, and it was rebuilt by the architect Eugène Viollet-Le-Duc in the XIX century. Each person is dressed as the attributes of his occupation or trade. We do not see benção de Cristo. We are beating two sides, we apostles them as a whole group. Below each one, the zodiac signs are represented.

It is worth noting that the contours of the peça result from allegorical elements of ceu and do inferno. We can see demons torturing souls on the direct side, not on the lower level. On the other hand, we see a representation of two abençoados as crianças. No rest da peça figuram anjos, patriarchs and saints.

Portico of Nossa Senhora

This section suffered important mutilations during the French Revolution and had to be restored in the 19th century. A portal is dedicated to Virgem Maria. She represents the dinner of the Virgin's coroação na faixa superior.

No meio da peça, or sono de Maria is represented. She finds herself in a bed accompanied by apostolic hairs, while they raise their souls to heaven. Na faixa inferior, the patriarchs who are sure to guard a dossel with the ark of the alliance and the tabuas da lei.

Na peça, Virgem Maria appears as Santo Menino em seus braços. We are battling, we see various people such as kings or patriarchs. The representation of Saint Denis stands out as a skeleton, the safe head on his own, alluding to his martyrdom.

Galeria dos Reis and Galeria das Chimeras (Gárgulas)

A galeria dos reis, located in the middle section of the western façade, is located in Idade Média and represents a sculptural group of 28 royal figures from Judaea and Israel.

A galeria dos reis, as part of two porticoes, suffered important destruction at the time of the French Revolution.

Or architect Eugène Viollet-leDuc who, as we saw, was commissioned to restore the Cathedral, not limited to doing a mere restoration. He also created new elements.

On the one hand, Viollet-le-Duc incorporated his face into two portraits, two reis. On the other hand, using an imagination based on a romantic fantasy of the XIX century, or an architect adapted the remains of the gallery of gargles to monstrous and fantastic figures.

North side

On the north façade, facing rue du Cloitre, we see a number of portas do transept. O portico is characteristic of Gothic style portas and janelas das igrejas. In this case, each façade has a set of three fronts, strictly hierarchical.

Na varanda, we see Virgem as a Menino not batting, but a sculpture and incomplete. O tympanum is dedicated to Theophilus of Adana, a monk whose history is represented in the upper and middle parts.

History tells that Theophilus of Adana was hired to become an abbot, but preferred to remain an archdeacon. Or novo abbot retired from the position of Teófilo, desperate, agreed as the devil with the help of a Jew, in order to be imported to the abbot. I sell or damage that tinha feito, Teófilo regrets and was liberated with the help of Virgem Maria.

A part of the bottom of the painel is represented at the infancy of Jesus: his birth, the appearance of the Temple of Jerusalem, the killing of two innocents and the flight for Egito.

Façade Sul

Like the north façade, or south façade portico, at another end of the transept, it is crowned by an empena. Or portico dedicated to San Esteban é, like all the previous ones, made up of three registers.

No upper register, Jesus can be seen as serious eyes contemplating or martyrdom of Santo Estêvão. The lowest records relate to the life and martyrdom of Santo Estêvão.

To porta vermelha

A porta vermelha is a portal used in Notre-Dame to facilitate passage of the religious cloister for a Igreja and, particularly, for the choir area, in order to commemorate or "Matins" in the first hours of the day. manhã. It was built in no way 13 and is crowned by a complex of empena. As or its use is "internal", a port is less than that of others and its upper part is more simple.

Attributed to the master Pierre de Montreuil, at the top and dedicated to the Coroação da Virgem Maria. At each end of the day there are givers who will finance: or rei St. Louis and his wife Rainha Margaret da Provença.

Year round has a unique archivolt in homage to São Marcelino (São Marcel), bishop of Paris by volume IV, whose relic was kept in the Cathedral attached to the French Revolution. His life is represented in different dinners that eat as batismo by imersão and include some popular legends, such as That second to which Marcel was defeated a dragon that devoured women of greater reputation, hardly like the team of bispo.

O telhado e a agulha

The Notre Dame roof is supported by a wood molding called "Notre Dame forest". For this reason, there are only a few beams, but not all of them have been composted by an internal carvalho (many hundreds of years ago).

Not telhado da Notre-Dame Cathedral, agulha stands out. This agulha was added not in the XIX century by Viollet-le-Duc, replacing an old agulha type but, which had been placed by the year 1250, but was dismantled at the end of the XVIII century.

Viollet-le-Duc reproduces a series of bronze statues, two twelve apostles that I observed at the top of the city. Um deles, St. Thomas, it would be Viollet-le-Duc who, from the coast of Paris, watches Agulha. Assim, Viollet-le-Duc became an immortal guardian of the sacred building.

No interior of the Cathedral, a telhado resolved with abóbadas with nerves and exhibited. Or unhooked hair is formed by the cross of two pointed arches. As costs for these abóbadas distribute weight for the pillars.

Thanks to this architectural technique, the architects will be able to eliminate the heavy walls and open ways to create janelles that provide a heavenly effect. In the previous photo you can notice the three snows of elevation of the Cathedral.

Rosettes

It is not difficult to imagine the emotional impact of the colorful lights on two windows, a period in which the only source of interior lighting came from the fogo.

Two characteristic elements of Notre-Dame are as beautiful rosettes present on the west, north and south facades. A rosette do norte would be dedicated to Virgin Mary and a do sul would be dedicated to Jesus Christ.

Liturgical and decorative art

Gothic art, sculpture and painting are at the service of architecture and, they lack a liturgical function, they always have an educational and propaganda function.

Within the complex of Notre-Dame, a specific part stands out: it is a kind of wall that surrounds the chorus and or fits inside the floor. O stretch is decorated with polychrome wood sculptures, which contaminate different life cycles of Jesus. These were painted for the long term of the fourteenth century.

A north section was supervised by Pierre de Chelles and addresses the life of Jesus from childhood tied to his death and death. O work was made between 1300 and 1318. She was supervised by Jean Ravy and, after his death, she was supervised by Jean le Boutellier. Or work portrays dinners after resurrection, a theme less developed in iconography from the time than before. It was made between 1344 and 1351.

Furthermore, as part of the aesthetic interpretation gives light, the Cathedral is endowed with a collection of liturgical art in precious stones and metais, loaded with cor and brilliance. None of them have fallen into disuse, it is considered essential to keep them alive because of their existence.

History of Notre Dame Cathedral

The Notre Dame Cathedral began to be built in 1163 and finished in 1345. We are failing about two secular work incansável, gerações inteiras that will live to serve this magnificent work to deixar or testemunho of your faith inscribed. It is said that it is about Gothic art: an offering literally elevated to ceu.

A Ilha da Cidade de Paris, a local of the Cathedral, is a small island located in the middle of the Seine river that centuries ago had been a place of Celtic and Roman worship. Mesmo nela havia a temple dedicated to Jupiter.

Apostolic to the Christianization of Europe, a Romanesque church known as Saint Etienne was also built, more like moving culture that enables the formation of cities, the logo to emerge or to be interested in building a church in accordance with the new tempos. This would be the Gothic Cathedral of Notre-Dame.

The project was promoted by bishop Maurice de Sully during the reign of Louis VII. The Cathedral counted as support for the rei e to the economic participation of all the social classes of Paris, thanks to the quais or work no sofreu interrupções. The model was inspired by the Abbey of Saint Denis, where or Abbot Suger had applied it for the first time to the name "aesthetics of light", or heart of Gothic art.

Stages of construction, transformation and restoration of Notre Dame

• 1163: Start of construction.
• 1182: The Cathedral began to render religious services at the end of the choir area.
• 1182-1200 (approximately): Conclusão da main nave.
• Beginning of the XIII century: Construction of facades and towers.
• 1250-1267: Conclusão do transepto (work by Jean de Chelles and Pierre de Montreuil).
• 1250: Installation of the first agulha.
• 1345: Fim da construção.
• 1400: Instalação do sino na torre sul.
• Seculo XVII, reign of Louis XIV: Destruição dos vitrais to replace them by baroque decoration.
  - 1630-1707: Development of a total of 77 paintings, quais only 12 recovered.
• 18th century, French Revolution: Aque and partial destruction of the Cathedral by two revolutionaries. Hair deterioration caused by use as a food item. The sinuses were removed to make canhões like molten iron.
• Século XIX: Restoration projects by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc and Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Lassus.
  - 1831, curious fact: Victor Hugo publishes or romance Nossa Senhora de Paris.
  - 1856: Installation of 4 new sinuses in the north tower.

(Text translated and adapted by Rebecca Fuks)

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