Notre Dame Cathedral
The Notre Dame is one of Paris’
most popular landmarks. The
hauntingly beautiful cathedral
belongs
to the French Gothic style
of architecture. The church is
located on the eastern end of the
Île de la
Cité, which is in the
city’s 4th arrondissement.
Notre Dame is the Catholic
archdiocese’s cathedral. It protects
within its walls the cathedral, which
is
the official chair of Andre
Cardinal Vingt-Trois, the Archbishop
of Paris. The church was one of the
first Gothic structures in Paris.
Its construction extended over the
Gothic era. The stained glass
windows
and the beautiful adorning
sculptures exhibit influences of
naturalism, which was missing from
the earlier Romanesque structures.
The Notre Dame is most known for its
use of the flying buttress, which
are arched exterior structural
supports. It is one of the first
buildings in the world to employ
such a structural system. The
initial plans for the building did
not include flying buttresses, but
when stress fractures began to
appear on the walls, the church’s
architects decided to build exterior
supports.
Like most churches in Paris, the
Notre Dame suffered from looting and
desecration during the 1790s when
the French Revolution was at its
peak. Fortunately, in the 19th
century, notable French architect
Eugène Viollet-le-Duc saved the
magnificent cathedral from
destruction and restored it to its
original state. |
