Paris. Grant Allen's Historical Guides. Allen Grant
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honour on the hill of Ste. Geneviève, south of the river (now represented by St. Étienne-du-Mont, to be described hereafter), and Our Lady was left in sole possession of the episcopal edifice. Nevertheless, it would seem that the builders feared to excite the enmity of so powerful a saint as the Protomartyr; for many memorials of St. Stephen remain to this day in the existing cathedral, and will be pointed out during the course of our separate survey.
Notre-Dame de Paris is an edifice in the Early French Gothic style, the first great church in that style to be erected in France, and the model on which many others were afterwards based. Begun in 1163, it was consecrated in 1182, but the western front was not commenced till 1218, and the nave was only finished towards the middle of the 13th century. Much desecrated in the Revolution, the cathedral has been on the whole admirably restored. It stands at present lower than it once did, owing to the gradual rise of the surrounding ground; formerly, it was approached by thirteen steps (the regulation number, imitated from the Temple at Jerusalem). It has two western towers, instead of one in the centre where nave and transepts intersect, as is usual in England; so have all the cathedrals in France which imitate it. This peculiarity is due to the fact that French Gothic aims especially at height, and, the nave being raised so very high, a tower could not safely be added above it. Other differences between English and French Gothic will be pointed out in detail in the course of our survey.
Though Notre-Dame was the first great building in Paris proper, it must be borne in mind that the magnificent Basilica of St. Denis, four miles to the north, and also the Abbey Church of St. Germain-des-Prés, in the southern suburb, antedated it by several years.
Recollect three things about Notre-Dame. (1) It is a church of Our Lady: therefore, most of it bears reference to her cult and legends. (2) It is the cathedral church of Paris: therefore, it is full of memorials of local saints – St. Denis, Ste. Geneviève, St. Marcel, Bishop of Paris, etc., amongst whom must also be classed St. Stephen. (3) It is a royal church: therefore it contains many reminders of the close alliance of Church and State. Thus understood, Notre-Dame becomes an epic in stone.
Open daily, all day long, free. Take your opera-glasses.]
Go along the Rue de Rivoli as far as the Square of the Tour St. Jacques. Walk through the little garden. Notice, in passing, *the tower – all that now remains of the church of St. Jacques-de-la-Boucherie – used at present as a meteorological observatory. Turn down the Rue St. Martin to the Pont Notre-Dame. In front, L, stands the Hôtel-Dieu; R, the Tribunal de Commerce; centre, the Marché-aux-Fleurs; at its back, the Prefecture de Police. Continue straight along the Rue de la Cité, passing, R, the main façade of the modern Palais de Justice (with a glimpse of the Ste. Chapelle) till you come to the broad and open Place Notre-Dame (generally known by its mediæval name of the Parvis). Take a seat under the horse-chestnuts on the north side of the Place, opposite the equestrian statue of Charlemagne, in order to examine the façade of the cathedral.
The **west front, dating from the beginning of the 13th century (later than the rest), consists of two stories, flanked by towers of four stories. The first story contains the three main portals: L, the door of Our Lady; centre, of her Son; R, of her Mother. On the buttresses between them stand four statues: extreme L, St. Stephen; extreme R, St. Marcel, Bishop of Paris (a canonized holder of this very see); centre L, the Church, triumphant; centre R, the Synagogue, dejected (representing between them the Law and the Gospel). This first story is crowned and terminated by the Galerie des Rois, containing figures of the kings of Israel and Judah, ancestors of the Blessed Virgin (others say, kings of France to the date of the building), destroyed in the great Revolution, but since restored. On the parapet above it stand, R and L, Adam and Eve; centre, Our Lady and Child with two adoring angels – the Fall and the Redemption. The second story contains the great rose window and two side-arches with double windows. The third story of the towers consists of a graceful open-work screen, continued in front of the nave, so as to hide its ugly gable (which is visible from further back in the Place), thus giving the main front a fallacious appearance of having three stories. The final or fourth story of the towers is pierced on each side by two gigantic windows, adding lightness to their otherwise massive block. The contemplated spires have never been added. This façade has been copied with modifications in many other French cathedrals.
Now approach the front, to examine in detail the **great portals, deeply recessed, as is usual in French cathedrals, owing to the massive masonry of the towers. The left or northern doorway – that of Our Lady (by which her church is usually entered) bears on its central pier a statue of the Virgin and Child; beneath her feet are scenes from the temptation of Eve, who brought into the world sin, and the first murderer Cain, as contrasted with her descendant, the Blessed Virgin, who brought into the world the Redeemer of mankind. Over Our Lady’s head, a tabernacle, representing the relics preserved within. In the tympanum, first tier, L, three patriarchs; R, three kings, typifying the ancestors of the Blessed Virgin. Above, second tier, the Entombment of the Virgin, placed in her sarcophagus by angels, and attended by the apostles with their familiar symbols. Higher still, third tier, the Coronation of the Virgin, in the presence of her Son, with adoring angels. The whole thus represents the Glory of Our Lady. At the sides below, life-size figures; extreme L, Constantine, first Christian Emperor; extreme R, Pope Silvester, to whom he is supposed to have given the patrimony of St. Peter – the two representing the union of Church and State. Next to these the great local saints: L, St. Denis, bearing his head, and guided by two angels; R, St. John Baptist, St. Stephen, and Ste. Geneviève, with the devil endeavouring to extinguish her taper, and a sympathizing angel. The figures on the arch represent spectators of the Coronation of the Virgin. Minor subjects – signs of the Zodiac, Months, etc. – I leave to the ingenuity and skill of the reader. The *centre doorway (commonly called the Porte du Jugement) is that of the Redeemer, Our Lady’s Son; on its central pier, fine modern figure of Christ blessing; above, in the tympanum, the usual Last Judgment. First tier (modern) the General Resurrection, with angels of the last trump, and kings, queens, bishops, knights, etc., rising from their tombs; conspicuous among them is naturally St. Stephen. Second tier, St. Michael the Archangel weighing souls, with devils and angels in waiting, the devils cheating; R, the wicked (on Christ’s left) hauled in chains to hell; L, the saints (on His right) ascending to glory. On the summit, third tier, the New Jerusalem, with Christ enthroned, showing His wounds in mercy, flanked by adoring angels holding the cross, spear, and nails; L, the Blessed Virgin, patroness of this church; and R, Ste. Geneviève, patroness of Paris, interceding for their votaries. (Last figure is usually, but I think incorrectly, identified as St. John the Evangelist, who has no function on a Parisian Cathedral.) This relief, closely copied at the Ste. Chapelle, is itself imitated from one at St. Denis. On the lintels the Wise (L) and Foolish (R) Virgins; L and R on jambs, life-size figures of the Twelve Apostles, with their usual symbols. Observe the beautiful ironwork of the hinges. The third or southern portal, that of St. Anne – the Mother of the Virgin– contains older work than the other two, replaced from the earlier church on the same site. The style of the figures is therefore Romanesque, not Gothic; so is the architecture represented in them. On the centre pier, St. Marcel, Bishop of Paris. Above, tympanum, history of St. Anne; first tier, centre, the meeting of Joachim and Anna at the Golden Gate; L, Marriage of the Virgin; R, her Presentation by St. Anne in the Temple, etc. Second tier, the Nativity, and the visit of the Magi to Herod; at the summit, third tier, Madonna enthroned, with adoring angels, a king, and a bishop – Church and State once more identified. The work on this doorway much resembles that at St. Denis. Magnificent iron hinges, brought from old St. Stephen’s.
Walk round the quay on the South side to examine the body of the church. Notice the lofty Nave, and almost equally lofty Aisles, with (later) side-chapels built out as far as the level of the Transept; also, the flying buttresses. As in most French churches, the transepts are short, and project but little from the aisles. The South Transept has a good late façade with two rose-windows. Its portal – ill visible – is dedicated (in compensation) to the displaced St. Stephen, and contains on the pier a figure of the saint, robed, as usual, as a deacon; in the tympanum are reliefs