My first visit to Notre Dame since fire nearly destroyed the cathedral in April of 2019 was inspiring and moving. I walked through it imagining that it looked this way when it was first completed in the 13th century: new, clean and flooded with light.
The cathedral sits on the Île de la Cité — the heart of Paris, and literally the heart of the entire French speaking world. Officially called Notre Dame de Paris (Our Lady of Paris) it is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The 860 year-old cathedral is known worldwide. It conjures up images of Paris in peoples’ minds, just as strongly as the Eiffel Tower.
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Construction started in 1163, the inspired brain-child of the then Bishop of Paris, Maurice de Sully. The site had already been a holy place for thousands of years, with churches situated there going back to the 5th century. Before that, a Gallo-Roman temple dedicated to Jupiter stood there. And for centuries before that, the Gallic Parisii tribe honored and worshiped their deities there.
The cathedral is built in what was then called, “The French Style” which we know as Gothic. In 1137, construction was begun on the Basilica of St. Denis, just north of Paris, using new architectural techniques — revolutionary at the time — which allowed for higher, thinner walls, larger windows and more openness and space inside.
It took one hundred years to build. Substantially finished by the year 1270, Notre Dame has undergone centuries of changes, neglect, rejuvenation and periodic historical upheavals. During the French Revolution all of the bronze, lead, and precious metals in the cathedral were removed and melted down. The revolutionaries, eliminating all things religious, converted Notre Dame into a Temple of Reason and then Temple of the Supreme Being.
After the Napoleonic Wars, Notre-Dame fell into such a state of disrepair that Paris officials considered its demolition. The 1831 novel by Victor Hugo, Notre Dame de Paris (published in English as, The Hunchback of Notre Dame) called attention to the cathedral’s deteriorating and sorry state. So shocked were the French by the imminent loss of this iconic edifice, they immediately began a decades-long restoration.
Spearheaded by the famous architects, Jean-Baptiste Lassus and Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, they began work in 1844, which included the spire, which fell in such dramatic fashion during the 2019 fire.
The fire broke out in the attic at 6:18 PM (18:18). Smoke detectors alerted cathedral employees to the fire, but they did not summon the fire fighters right away. Instead, a guard went to investigate — but to the wrong location. By the time the guard climbed the 300 steps to the cathedral attic, the fire was well advanced.
It was then that the fire department, was summoned, at 6:51 PM (18:51). Firefighters arrived less than ten minutes later. By 9:45 PM (21:45), the fire under control, by training all their hoses on the towers, walls and the area underneath the bells.
There are 13 bells of Notre Dame. The largest, the Emmanuel, weighs some 30,000 pounds (18 kg). The fire brigade command knew that, if the bells fell, they could wreck the tower, and endanger the structure of the other tower and the whole cathedral.
When you come to Paris, a visit to Notre Dame must be high on your list of things to do. The beauty, grandeur, history and iconic presence of Notre Dame de Paris will inspire even the most jaded person with awe and reverence.
Next: Notre Dame Reborn, Part II
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