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Introduction

Notre Dame de Paris is a Roman Catholic. Although the names of

the architects are unknown, its style has been one of the best

examples of “French Gothic Architecture”.It is also historically

important since it dates back to the foundation of the city. In this

research paper I will focus on the construction of Notre Dame and the

most emblematic events that occurred here.

Historical and Political Context

Paris was founded in the 3rd century B.C. by Celts, fishermen who

were persecuted by the Romans.It occurred on “Ile de la cite,” one of

the seven islands that existed on the Seine River at the time, of

which (there are only two remaining). Progressively the inhabitants

were Romanized, and Christians they later become Roman citizens. In

the year 486 A.D., King Clovis took Paris, and 12 years later he named

it the capital of his kingdom. By the 11thand 12th centuries, the rapid

growth of the city demanded restructuring. This led to the paving of

main streets, and to the construction of market halls, and numerous

fountains, among other things. These gave the city religious and

political power.

Paris’s Catholic roots came from Roman influences but Clovis I

was the first king to adopt Catholic Christianity after the abrupt

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fall of the Roman Empire. In the 8th century, Charlemagne tried to

revive the Roman Empire with an even more Catholic influence. His

success didn’t go unnoticed to the eyes of the Church,convincing Pope

Leo III to name him the “Holy Roman Emperor”. This empire was to fall

after the death of Louis I, but Christianity had already taken its

place in French culture. By the end of the first millennium, France

was reunited and that played a significant role in the Crusades in

which French crusaders were crucial . The significant role of the

crusaders led to Old French becoming the lingua franca of Jerusalem.

With the importance of Christianity in France, churches were being

renovated or replaced by more hierarchical ones and this brought the

beginning of “French Gothic”. Reims, Chartres, Amiens, Beauvais are

all French Gothic cathedrals that replaced older churches and notre

dame de paris was the one that would later be the most significant of

French cathedrals.

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John Henderson, Paris - Ile de La Cité from the Sein, provided by the

Gernsheim Photographic Corpus of Drawings from photo campaigns that

began in 1939.

The proposal and Role of Maurice de Sully

Right after the ancient cathedral in Paris had been renovated, a

sudden change of direction arrived. At this time, important

cathedrals around France such as Saint-Denis and Chartres were being

renovated. Two monks promoted this renovation: Abbot Suger and

Archbishop Henri Sanglier of Sens. No one anticipated that this

renovation period would bring such a revolutionizing style. The

ambition of the time led to bigger buildings with bigger interior

spaces, the use of structural ribbed vaults to support heavier loads

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and the incorporation of sculptures and stained glass. To overcome

these challenges, new building techniques and technology were

invented.

The new trend of Gothic buildings in France made the ancient

Paris cathedral “antiquated and poorly adapted to the ambitions of its

rapidly expanding diocese” (Erland-Brandenburg ).This called for a

drastic change in order to maintain its significant purpose and not to

seem out-of-date. After reviewing numerous candidates for the

administration of the project, the procese faced two great options:

Pierre Le Mangeur and Maurice de Sully. They looked for the counsel of

Louis VII since he had been a determining factor for the rise of

Gothic Style. After following Louis VII advice to “choose the most

zealous as regards the governorship of souls; reserve directions of

the schools for the most erudite”(Erland-Brandenburg 41), it was

Maurice de Sully who was finally given the honor of managing the new

cathedral project.

After being approved by the bishop, Maurice de Sully immediately

started working in the grandiose project. His first challenges were

purely topographical. Expansion to the west would have been expensive

since landowners demanded reasonable prices. The answer was expanding

to the east. This was much easier since it was land owned by the

clergy although it meant that some existing structures had to be

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demolishod. The bishop’s ambition went beyond that and he decided that

in order to create a cathedral square he had to push the façade 130

feet to the east. Not content with the current urban design, Maurice

de Sully also proposed to improve the circulation around the cathedral

square because the existing narrow streets were not adequate for a

project of this magnitude. (Erland-Brandenburg 45)

But Sully’s project did not only consist of the building of a new

cathedral with an adequate urban context, I also consisted of building

additional structures that would fulfill the needs of the city and the

clergy. The whole site was to include a baptistery, the bishop’s

palace, The Hotel-Dieu, a parvis, the Church of Saint-Christophe,

Saint-Genevive-de-la-petite, Rue Neuve Notre Dame and Saint Denis-du-

Pas. Each of these projects had challenges of their own; challenges

that would be resolved primarily during the administration of Maurice

de Sully.

Édoua

rdBaldus, French, born Prussia, 1813-1889, The Metropolitan Museum of

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Art.

A project of this scale obviously required more than

determination and a superb design, It also required the financial

capability to fulfill the demanding needs. But the big question is

“where did the resources come from?” Many people argue that it was the

bishop who mainly took care of the financial problems. They base their

arguments on the evidence of other projects, where the corresponding

bishop assumied all the expenses. But this argument is invalid since

there are no actual documents that show the role of Maurice de Sully

in the economic affairs.(Erland-Brandenburg 49-51)

The Architects

Maurice de Sully had to be really careful before making a

decision regarding the architect for the Cathedral. He had to choose

someone with the same capacity of understanding that he had concerning

the design and the architectural language of the building. This is why

the design, although it went through different masters over 200 years,

respected the original program.

The first architect is unknown, but even though there is no background

information about him, we can assume that his education and earlier

projects made him well suited for this taxing project. Hi consisted of

a fairly big plane with a five bay apse and a choir unit for the main

altar and the canons. Eight bays constituted the nave. His facade is

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comprised of a grand block with two flanking bell towers. The interior

space was subdivided into five aisles: two pairs of side aisles1 and

one central aisle2. The height of the central aisles made space for an

arcade flanked by columns, clerestory, etc. Although it had a

difficult access, the tribune of the choir kept the same spaciousness

that characterized the whole building3. Restorations made in the 13th

century makes it hard to interpret the original design of the third

level. Modifications to the window chevet imply that the windows in

the original design were significantly smaller than the ones we see

nowadays. It has been thought that the original design didn’t include

flying buttresses but recent studies have questioned that argument.

Technical evidence suggests that the original design did, in fact,

have flying buttresses to support the outward forces exerted by the

vaults. It is also worth mentioning the incredible work of masonry

done by the first architect. He overcame big structural challenges

such as soil condition and building framing.

Around 1177 the first architect was replace by another, likewise

of unknown identity. This second master continued the work without any

time span in between and at the same pre-established pace. Although

1Each aisle was 20 ft wide and their vaults were 26 ft tall2 The aisle was 41 ft wide and the vaults were 108ft tall3 The tribune was 19ft wide and 25 ft tall(All the measurement are verified by The Art Bulletin, Vol.69)

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this new architect followed the outline given by the one before, he

proposed interesting changes and modifications. His interventions were

more in the construction techniques, spatial conception and style. In

other words, the initial plan and the four level elevations were

retained. His main goal was to promote the unified inner space sought

by the first master. He reduced the area occupied by supports in the

ground floor by implementing new construction techniques, reducing the

number of columns, generalizing the use of pilasters, fusing bases and

capitals, implying a colossal order in the transept and by being

meticulous in the selection of stone. One of his biggest changes on

the front façade was the alteration of the rose to give it a more

curvilinear pattern. He also elevated the original outer portions of

its vaults to fit higher windows in order to provide more light to the

interior. Although there is no crucial evidence that tells us that the

second master constructed flying buttresses, it is assumed that by

this time they were already constructed in order to give structural

support to the purely aesthetics changes made in the interior. His

final contribution was the introduction of triple instead of double

arcade units in the second level. This reduced the wall space and gave

way to a more elegant and subtle level of detail.(Wilson, C)

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Janson, H.W. History of art. (Englewood Cliffs, 1991) Promotional

pamphlet.; fig. 469

The third architect was not as nearly influential as the ones

before him. His role was not far from just simply following the

protocol, although he achieved to assemble some structural foundations

and he started putting together the exterior masonry layers. Although

his work might go unnoticed he did changed some of the designs made by

the second master. One of the few evidence of his architectural

background can be found in the Portal of the Virgin, here the

inclusion of niches and other elements carved out of thin stone bring

some sense of elegance to the portico. (Erland-Brandenburg 94)

In the years from 1210-20 a new architect was chosen following

the death of the third master. Among his most important

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accomplishments were the building of the chambers in the towers and

the level of the rose window. During his supervision the façade block

was successfully joined to the nave after having faced innumerous

challenges for many years. This architect was responsible for the

disappearance of one of Notre Dame most important features, the

uniform design of the arcade supports. He instead adopted the design

at Chartres. But the architect was to redeem himself by doing a

splendid job in the composition of elements in the front façade block.

The highlight of his designed could be said that was the spiral stair

that led to the tribune. All this was achieved thanks to his marvelous

stonework that gave the Cathedral elegance and a sense of perfection.

(Erland-Brandenburg 102)

He was probably the last of four architects who finished the

Towers and the design of the rest of the building. The

cathedral,however, still had decades of work, the addition of the old

portals, the sculptural details to complete that gothic style among

others were still to be completed. Finally after two centuries the

cathedral was ready to astonish people from all around Western Europe.

Historical Events

It had been 400 years since The Cathedral of Notre Dame had been

finished, but the period, costumes and even architectural tastes had

changed. It was not only Notre Dame but also many other churches

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around Europe that were going to be victims of vandalism. These acts

were committed under the excuse that Gothic churches needed to be

modernized since its language was barbaric and obscure, in other

words, not suited for a Christian church. The urge that people had to

adapt Notre Dame specifically to baroque architecture led to the

destruction of the stained glass windows that had characterized Notre

Dame for almost half a millennium. The tombs were sacked and destroyed

while the altar was replaced with a higher one.

The years to come were going to be probably the darkest ones for

the “Lady of France”. King Louis XVI monarchy collapsed in the late

18th century and the whole nation became a complete chaos. A number of

political events occurred leading to the Proclamation of the Republic

of France in 1792, one year before the execution of the king. While

this chaos attempted against the country, it also attempted against

the Cathedral. With most of the forces in the street trying to avoid

riots, the Cathedral, which had lost importance in recent years, saw

itself without protection. It was here when most of the sculptures and

treasuries were stolen or destroyed. The Virgin Mary was replaced

various occasions wit the lady of liberty indicating that since people

had lost respect for the Catholic religion. Now the ruins of the once

astonishing Gothic building served only as shelter and storage

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Jacques-Louis David, The Coronation of Napoleon and Josephine. Image

and original data provided by Erich Lessing Culture and Fine Arts

Archives/ART RESOURCE, N.Y. http://www.artres.com/c/htm/Home.aspx

Although Notre Dame had been given back to the Catholic Church in

1802, it would be Bonaparte who in 1804 would somehow give back the

Cathedral of Paris a sense of hierarchy with the demagogic act of

crowning himself as the emperor of what would later be called the

French Empire. From here France started a process of recovery but

Notre Dame didn’t seem to do any immediate progress. It was not going

to be until 1831 when Victor Hugo writes his novel “The Hunchback of

Notre Dame” that the people not only in France but all around Europe

started growing certain curiosity towards such an emblematic

Cathedral. It would be King Louis-Philippe I who would decreed the

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restoration and the construction of a new sacristy. Responsable for

this restoration would be Eugene Viollet-Le-Duc and Jean-Baptiste

Lassus.

To restore an edifice is not to maintain it, repair it or remake it, it is to re-establish it in a

complete state that may never have existed at a given moment. (Viollet-le-Duc)

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Works Cited

The Art Bulletin, Vol.69, No. 4(Dec., 1987), pp.540-569

http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/3050998

The Illustrated Magazine of Art, Vol.1, No. 4(1853), pp.222-224

http://www.jstor.org/stable/20537949

Anderson, R. G. (1948).The city and the cathedral, a reflection of the glory of the

gothic and the middle ages at their high tide in the city by the seine New York,

Longmans, Green.

Camille, M. (2009).The gargoyles of notre-dame medievalism and the monsters of

modernityChicago : University of Chicago Press.

Erlande-Brandenburg, A. (1998).Notre-dame de paris New York : Harry

N. Abrams.

Simson, O. G. v. (1956).The gothic cathedral: Origins of gothic architecture and

the medieval concept of order New York Pantheon Books.

Temko, A. (1955).Notre-dame of paris New York, Viking Press.

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Wilson, C. (1990).The gothic cathedral : The architecture of the great church,

1130-1530 : With 220 illustrations London, New York : Thames and Hudson.

Winston, R., & Winston, C. (1971).Notre-dame de paris, New York,

Newsweek.

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