NOTRE DIME, CATTIEDRNL OF (ante), the most celebrated church among the many of that name in France. It is the cathedral of Paris; and by its great age, the majesty of its proportions, and the stirring scenes of seven centuries of history, of which it has been either theater or witness, it is one of the remarkable historical monuments of the world. History does not reach to the time when its site was not the site of .a sanctuary. In the reign of the Roman emperor Tiberius altars for pagan worship existed on the east end of the island in the Seine, where Notre Dame now stands. The remains of a temple of Jupiter and Ceruntmos, and the image of a horned god, were found on the spot about 375, when a church was erected on the sense site; supposed to have been the first Christian church erected in north France. In the 6th c. there were two churches there, St. Etienne and Ste. Marie. Childebert rebuilt the latter about the year 520 in a Roman style, consid ered very grand. The first glass window now known of in France was placed in it. Fragmdms of mosaic and precious marbles supposed to be from the floor and columns of this church were discovered in excavations in 1847, and are now in the Muses de Cluny. This church was pillaged and partly destroyed by the Normans in 857, but it was repaired by "Anscherie, 50th bishop of Paris." In 1140 the abbe of St. Denis put in a glass window of great beauty. It was diets called the 1.'y'e nom, to it from the St. Etienne, called is deux. In the 12th c. both were falling into grins, though they had for centuries been used for the great religions ceremonies and royal pageants of France. About 1160 bishop Maurice de Sully resolved to replace both old churches with a single edifice worthy the capital of the kingdom. and in 1163 the foundation of the present majestic pile was begun, and its corner stone placed by the hands of pope Alexander.III., thee a refugee in France. The work was pushed rapidly, so that, in 1182, on Wednesday of the pentecost, the great altar was consecrated by a legate of the pope. In 1185 Hera clius, patriarch of Jerusalem. came to Paris to officiate with the bishop in the dedication of the choir. Henry II., king of England, was interred before its high altar in Aug., 118E3. Notwithstanding the completion for service of the body of the church in the 12th c., the grandest part of the cathedral—its western front with the two towers—was only begun by bishop Pierre Nemours. A.D., 1208. It rose at the rate of about one story in the life of one generation of men. The portal of the south transept facade was built still later, as shown by an inscription of the mason who began work upon it in 1257, in the reign of St. Louis. Other, and some of the most beautiful, portions were completed
during the succeeding centuries. The environing chapels in the rear of the transepts were not a part of the original design, and were added in the last part of the 18th c., about which time, also, the towers of the west front were complete. In 1699 Louis-NM. was seized with the ambition to place in the cathedral an altar piece in the renaissance style, then just coming into vogue; and removed the original altar to give place to it. Other aheration:i were made liv Smffilot„, an eminent architect, in 1771,38. During the revolution, the titiOtA of.saintly ripen with destruc tion by the infidel mobs, and were saved at one time by a ruse of Chaumette, who assured the people that information concerning the planetary system was embodied in some of the image sculpture. But the statues of the old kings of France, which were upon the gallery of the grand facade, did not escape the vandalism. In 1793 the cathedral became, by law of the revolutionists, the Temple of Reason. In 1845 the first thoroughly intelligent and comprehensive work for the restoration of Notre Dame was entered upon, under the control of architects Lasses and Viollet-Leduc. Their work was prosecuted uninterrupt edly for ten years, so that by 1855 the marvelous blending of majesty oPproportion with grace of detail and spirit in design in its west facade were exhibited in bolder relief than ever before in all its history. During the reign of Louis Napoleon the vast structure, On every side, from foundation to pinnacles, was cleaned and repaired; and for the first time in the seven hundred years of its growth could be seen with all its varied constructions as one completed whole. The year 1882 will be the 700th anniversary of its consecration. From 1182 to the present its lofty nave, its altars, and its chapels, have been the scenes of all the most important ceremonies of church and state in France.. The baptism of princes, their marriages, coronations, royal funerals, the reception of the great dignitaries of the church, Te Daunts for victories, and the surging masses of Parisian revolutions for seven hundred years have made historic procession under its lofty vaults. The archi tecture embraces nearly every noble feature peculiar to the era that witnessed the growth and culmination of Gothic architecture, and for simple majesty of expression its facade has no superior. The extreme length of the cathedral is 430 ft.; width at transept, 170 ft.; and area covered by it, 64,103 sq.ft.; height of towers, 223 ft.