Notre-Dame it was erected in 1163 when Louis VII had already seen half of his kingdom fall into the possession of the Normans and beyond, furthermore his last domains were threatened by the presence of Barbarossa beyond the Rhine. But despite all the difficulties, the King with Maurice de Sully , bishop of Paris – wanted to start what the theologian had already planned on October 12, 1160: erecting Notre-Dame, and so it was.
More than 1.500 people were employed, including stonecutters, carpenters, blacksmiths, glassmakers who, having learned the calculation systems from the craftsmen of Spain, managed to design the great cathedral step by step. Huge blocks of limestone called cliquart, they were extracted from quarries far from Paris and then transported by oxen, sometimes even by decidedly devout pilgrims.
As the structure took shape, the blocks were hoisted by means of ropes coiled around huge hollow cylinders, which rotated with the force of the men placed inside them. Surely the decision to build this cathedral was an act of faith, but also a proof of man's trust in his own will to impose himself on fate even in adverse times. Suffice it to say that Notre-Dame always managed to survive every war, revolution and occupation that occurred over the centuries.
To build Notre-Dame it was first necessary to demolish a previous cathedral and another dedicated to Santo Stefano which dated back to the XNUMXth century and once finished it underwent several changes, depending on the religious wishes of the period. In the mid-XNUMXth century the north and south transepts were built, and during the reign of Louis IX, another entrance was added: Red Doors.
In the early 700s all the stained glass windows, except the rose windows, were replaced with glass bearing the lilies of France. Later under Louis XV, the religious decided to widen the central door, considered too narrow for royal ceremonies, but this led to the mutilation of some sculptures.
While inside, the structure appears glorious and at the same time simple, right in the memory of the events that happened. In 1455 a sixty-year-old peasant woman leaned on a column, heading to the first of the courts that would have acquitted and subsequently sanctified her daughter, Joan of Arc? And was it still on this column, on December 2, 1804, that Napoleon, who had the Pope come from Rome to crown him, hesitated before snatching the crown from his hand and putting it on his head, proclaiming himself Emperor?
During the French Revolution, the statues located around the portals were demolished by the revolutionaries and only in 1839 were they recovered from a coal deposit on the Left Bank. The revolutionary zeal also led to mistakes, believing they were destroying the statues representing the kings of France, instead figures representing the sovereigns of Israel and Judea were destroyed. The Gothic gates were dismantled to make spears, the bells, with the exception of the central one, were melted down to make cannons. When in 1802 Napoleon decided to return the cathedral to the Church, everything was in pitiful conditions, both for the revolution and for the years of abandonment, when Gothic architecture was despised as it was considered "barbaric".
Everything would still be like this if a group of intellectuals and artists hadn't attracted the attention of the French. Among these was Victor Hugo, who in 1831 published the novel Notre-Dame de Paris and the architect Eugene Viollet-le-Duc, passionate about gothic art. And so it was that in 1843 the restoration project signed by the latter architect was approved; many of the ornaments are owed to him, including all the figures in the Gallery of the Kings and the famous gargoyles. The cathedral was reopened for worship in 1864.
Notre-Dame is 130 meters long, has an internal height of 35 and the floor has an area of 6000 square meters, but its importance lies in a perfect harmony between architecture and perfection. Its façade has precise proportions, a 40m wide rectangle flanked by twin towers rising 68m. In the center is the rose window with a diameter of 9,5 metres, a perfect diamond rose.
And for those who like to climb the spiral staircases that lead to the top of the towers, they will be able to see below the square which has served for centuries as a reference point for measuring the distances of all French cities from the capital. To the left, the Eiffel Tower and in the distance you can see the Sacré-Coeur Basilica, exactly above the Montmartre district. In front along the right bank of the Seine, the Louvre extends, then on the horizon also the Arc de Triomphe.
What is certain is that little has changed for Notre-Dame, it stands on an island in the Seine and overlooks the Parisian capital every day, facts and people follow one another, but its majestic testimony of faith and intellect of those who had designed it for all centuries to come.
