Each painting shows the facade at a different time of day. Vichy St Blaise is actually two churches. Eglise St-Blaise dates from the late s. But it is the frescoes in Notre-Dame des Malades that I find absolutely captivating. The blue colors in Vichy St-Blaise are almost as captivating as the blues found in Chartres. Since Notre-Dame de Paris is the seat of the Bishop in Paris, these churches are just that, churches, not cathedrals. Located at 2 Place du Louvre, this church dates from the 15th century.
Charles V of the House of Valois turned the fortress of the Louvre into a royal residence during the s. Allow plenty of time to view all the stained glass windows! A glimpse of the choir from the side ambulatory. Saint-Eustache, located close to the Louvre and the Palais Royale , was known as the Parochial and Royal church from the 17th century up until the Revolution. The magnificence of the architecture, stained glass, sculpture work and wall paintings is almost overwhelming.
These three just happen to be my favorites. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Denis and St. The relics were placed there to protect the Notre Dame. Fire struck during the 13th century…. Now onto the list of interesting facts. Here are ten interesting facts about this religious and architectural masterpiece in Paris.
The Cathedral is the most visited monument in Paris. France is the most visited country in the world. Surprisingly enough, its most visited monument is not the Eiffel Tower. If Disneyland Paris is the number one tourist destination in France, the Notre-Dame Cathedral is the most visited monument within the Paris city limits. More than 13 million visitors pass through the grand gate of Notre-Dame every year. This means the Cathedral welcomes around 35 thousand visitors a day!
If you wish to avoid the crowds, I recommend you arrive early at Notre-Dame. The gates open at AM but most visitors arrive a bit later, so take advantage of the early hours to visit the grandiose monument without thousands of people around. Standing here since the 12 th century, the Gothic masterpiece seems to have been here forever.
This island division, with one half dedicated to justice and ruling and the other one dedicated to religion — survived through times. During the Middle-Ages, the Roman Palace was replaced by the Royal Palace — which later became the Palace of Justice and the Conciergerie — and the altars were replaced by successive catholic churches.
Like often with churches, the bells of Notre-Dame bear names. But what is more interesting is the tumultuous lives of these bells. If Quasimodo, the famous hunchback created by Victor Hugo to ring the bells of the great Cathedral was an invention, the two-to-three ton pieces of bronze have had a life on their own.
The bells we now hear are no longer the ones installed upon completion of the Cathedral, six-hundred years ago. Indeed, after the French Revolution, in , most bells were taken down from Notre-Dame and melted to make cannon balls. New bells were only installed during the mid th century and contributed to a recognizable chime which sounded in the skies of the French Capital for years.
In , to celebrate the th anniversary of Notre-Dame, the bells were replaced in a much mediatized ceremony and the chimes renewed. A typical element of Gothic art, chimeras and gargoyles are well represented on the walls of Notre-Dame. Gargoyles are hollow statues located at strategic locations to ensure water drainage. Chimeras are purely decorative. On the towers of Notre-Dame, famous chimeras allow tourists to take well known perspective pictures with the tower chimeras in the foreground and Paris in the background.
Paris famous panorama from the Gallery of Chimeras — Source: Pixabay. People often think that these chimeras are representative of the medieval style of the Cathedral.
However, the decorative chimeras of the towers panorama are not medieval at all! First of all, almost the entirety of gargoyles of the Cathedral have been replaced since de Middle-Ages : indeed, gargoyles in particular, due to their function, are not designed to last long.
Most have to be replaced every century or years. Most chimeras have also been replaced. Some statues had been destroyed and the bells had mostly been melted. It entered the 19 th century in a much degraded state, and almost fell into oblivion, being used as a storage place instead of a religious one. In , however, Napoleon crowned himself the Emperor of the French in the Cathedral, propelling it back onto the front pages.
Notre Dame — Source : Pixabay. Popular outcries to preserve it, and ministerial programs to preserve it lead to massive renovations directed by Viollet-le-Duc in the mid th century, thus saving this jewel of Gothic art. In contrast to small-town Chartres, Rouen was France's second-largest city in medieval times. Its cathedral, also dedicated to Mary, is primarily famous as a landmark of art history.
Visiting today, you can see essentially what Claude Monet saw when he painted 30 different studies of this Flamboyant Gothic midth century facade at various seasons and times of day, capturing his "impressions" as the light played across its exquisitely detailed masonry.
Rouen's cathedral was constructed between the 12th and 14th centuries, though lightning strikes, wars the cathedral was accidentally bombed in World War II , and other destructive forces meant constant rebuilding.
Inside is a chapel dedicated to Joan of Arc she was convicted of heresy in Rouen and burned at the stake there in and several stone tombs that date from when Rouen was the capital of the dukes of Normandy including one containing the heart of English King Richard the Lionheart. Two hours west of Rouen, Bayeux's cathedral — as big as Paris' Notre-Dame — dominates its small town. Its two towers and west facade were originally Romanesque, but the towers were later capped with tall Gothic spires, and the facade embellished with a decorative Gothic "curtain" of architectural details.
Its interior is also a mix of styles, with solid round arches in the nave's ground level, supporting gracefully Gothic upper stories that soar high above.
For centuries, Amiens was known as the location where the head of John the Baptist was kept. Today, a replica of the relic preserved in the north aisle still attracts pilgrims from all over the world. A national monument of France, the Cathedral of Saint Etienne de Sens was the first church to be built from the start in Gothic style.
Its internal vaulting design is typical of Gothic style, with a set of six vaults overarching a clerestory a high part of a wall with windows above eye-level with intermittent piers and columns. Plan a visit: Sens is located 62 miles southeast of Paris. Expected travel time of 1 hour and 30 minutes. Its exteriors feature typical elements of Gothic architecture, such as a tall, thin bell tower, a large rose window within a square frame and elaborate statues depicting biblical scenes.
The facade is contained within two tall columns that give the entire structure a sense of vertical movement towards the sky. To visit: You can reach Senlis from Paris in an hour, but you will need to change trains en route. Tickets can be booked online or at any Paris train station. The Gothic style of one of the most beloved churches in the world is echoed in cathedrals outside Paris.
Tags: Architecture Catholic history France.
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