NOTRE DAME dAm) DE PARIS, CATHEDRAL OF. A ehurch in l'aris, the most cele brated among the many churches dedicatcd to the Virgin in France. it is situated on the Ile de In The remains of a temple of Jupiter Cer n:limns and the image of a horned god were found on the spot about 375, when a C11111'011 was erected on the same site. In the sixth century there were two there, dedieated to Saint Stephen the Virgin. Childebert rebuilt the latter about 520 in a Roman style. considered very grand. The first window now known of in France was placed in it. Fragments of mosaic and precious marbles supposed to be from the door and columns of this Chtlrell Were discovered ill 05eavations. in 1817. and :Re now in the Musr.e de Cluny. This Anil+ was pillaged and partly destroyed by the Nor. mans in 857. but it was repaired by llishop Anserie. III 1 1 40 the of Saint Denis put in a glass window of great beauty. It was then V:111141 t110 t'g li se 710111'0. to it. from Saint Etienne, called fr. chld'. In the twelfth century both (vvre falling into ruins. though they had for centuries been used for the great re ligious cereinonies and royal pageants of France.
About 11G0 Bishop Maurice de Sully resolved to replace both old churches with a single edifice worthy of the capital of the kingdom. and in 11G3 the foundation of the presimt majestic' pile Watt ill-gull, its corner stone being laid by Pope Alex ander 1 1 1- then a refugee in Frunce. The choir was the first part begun and the work was pushed rapidly, so that in 1182 the great altar was consecrated by a legate of the Pope. In 1185 1 Terael ins. Patriarch of Jerusalem, came to Paris to officiate with the Bishop in the dedication of the choir. Henry 11., King of England, was in terred before its high altar in August, 1189. The choir, transepts, and adjoining bays of the nave were completed in about 1196. The lower part of the nave was then run out to the main facade, which, with its two towers and three portals, was only begun by Bishop Pierre de Nemours in 1208. The portal of the south transept facade was built still later, as shown by an inscription of the architect .lean de Chelles, who began work upon it in 1257, in the reign of Saint Louis. The chapels in the rear of the transepts were not a part of the original design, and were added in the last part of the thirteenth century, about which time, also, the towers of the west front were completed. In 1699 Louis XIV. was seized
with the ambition to place in the cathedral an altar piece in the Renaissance style, and removed the original altar to give place to it. Other al terations were made by Soufflot in 1771-78. Dur ing the Revolution the statues of the old kings of France. which were upon the gallery of the main facade, were destroyed, and in 1793 the cathedral became, by law of the Revolutionists, the Temple of Reason. Victor Hugo's literary masterpiece. Notre Dame de Paris (1830), at tracted popular attention to the venerable edi fice, and in 1845-55 it was subjected to a thor ough and successful restoration. under the archi tects Lassus and Viollet-le-Duc. Front 1182 to the present its nave, its altars, and its chapels have been the scenes of the most important cere monies of Church and State in France.
The architecture is the noblest expression of simple early Gothic before its richer flowering in Amiens, Rheims, and Bourges cathedrals, and for simple majesty of expression its facade has no superior in France. The plan of Notre Dame is exceedingly compact; there is no break in the line of radiating chapels in the choir and the transepts do not project beyond the chapels. The inner narthex, of a double bay, is beneath the line of towers: the body of the church con sists of a high central nave and four aisles flanked by an outer continuous line of chapels and cut. by transepts almost in the centre. The vaulting is superb. The early features of sex partite vaulting, heavy round pillars, and high triforium gallery characterize the interior. The beginnings; of tracery arc illustrated by its lack in the earliest parts at the choir end and in its use in simpler forms in the windows and details of nave and facades. The portals, instead of be ing. as in the more developed cathedrals. pro jected front the facade. are recessed in its mass. and of their rich sculptures, one tympanum is an interesting survival of the earlier church (e.1140), the rest, barring restorations, dating from between 1215 and 1225. The extreme length of the cathedral is 430 feet ; width at transept. 170 feet; across nave and aisles. 124 feet; area covered by it. 64.108 square feet; height of tow ers, 223 feet; height of vault, 108 feet.