Our Blog - Paris Weekend - May 2025 - Notre Dame Cathedral

We've been to Notre Dame many times although I don't see many blogs with the Cathedral. There are some pictures from 2018 during the Ryder Cup but nothing when we lived in Paris (and we went to Notre Dame all the time!). We went by in 2024 during the reconstruction from the fire of April 2019 and just had a few pictures of the outside. While the church is now open, there is still work continuing (you can see the crane and the scaffolding on the right-hand-side towards the back).

I won't give much history on the church since I think most people know about the church. But just the high points ... main construction period was 1163 to 1260 although, like most churches, there have been changes. It was damaged during the French Revolution but restored between 1844 and 1864 thanks to the popularity of Victor Hugo's novel "Notre-Dame de Paris" or "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame", published in 1831.

The church looks really clean (although the façade was pretty clean in 2024 also). You can see the 3 portals, then a row of statues of Saints and religious figures. Then the Rose window, a row of blind arcades, and then the 2 large bell towers.

The tympanum over the central portal illustrates the Last Judgment, with figures of sinners being led off to hell, and good Christians taken to heaven. On the bottom, you can see people coming out of their caskets and then above that are the scales in the middle with an angel on one side and the devil on the other.

On the right side is the Saint Anne Portal, which is the oldest and dates back to around 1200. At the top is the Virgin and Child are flanked by the King of France and the Bishop of Paris, a testament to the close ties between royalty and Christendom. Below that is a row with scenes from the birth of Jesus (the annunciation, nativity, and Epiphany), and then the lower row has scenes of the marriages of Anne and Joachim, and Mary and Joseph.

Over on the left side is the Portal of the Virgin showing the death of Mary, her assumption to paradise, and her coronation as queen of heaven. It isn't quite as old as the Saint Anne Portal, but still dating back to around 1210-1220. At the top, Mary is in paradise, seated and crowned by an angel. Jesus blesses her and gives her the scepter. Below that is the scene of the death of Mary, surrounded by Jesus and the 12 apostles. Paul can be seen under a fig tree and John is under an olive tree. Across the bottom are 3 prophets and 3 Kings of Israel.

The horizontal band over the portals is the gallery of kings, which originally had 28 statues illustrating the kings of Judea. During the Revolution, the statues were destroyed or mutilated, wrongly associated with the sovereigns of the kingdom of France. New statues were created in the 19th century. In 1977, 21 heads were discovered in the courtyard of a private house in Paris and are now displayed at the Cluny Museum.

The newly-restored interior is very white, which could be a bit of a shock to people who saw it before the fire. As part of the restoration, everything was cleaned which removed not only the soot from the fire but accumulated dirt. I saw a little documentary on this process, which used a latex solution that was sprayed on the stone, then peeled off when dry, which then also peeled off the accumulated grime and soot without damaging the stone. While I have no issue with this, it is a bit of a controversial subject (the VERY white walls). A few views also looking down the side aisle at the vaulted Gothic arches and an attempt to look almost straight up in the transept, to get a view of the height of the nave and the ribbed vaults.

While this is a nice picture of the chandelier, it is meant to show the stained-glass. The stained-glass windows in the church vary widely. Some are quite old (like the rose windows), some (like the 2nd picture) are 19th-century grisaille windows, and some like the first picture are modern, abstract windows without human figures in an attempt to recreate the luminosity of the cathedral's interior in the 13th century.

There are 3 Rose windows: 2 in the transept and one over the main entry. The 2 in the transept date from 1250. This one is the South window, and depicts the Last Judgement.

The North Rose window shows kings and prophets from the Old Testament.

I will have to go back with my new iPhone and better camera and see how much better the Rose window pictures can be!

On the North and South sides of the choir enclosure are lined with sculptures depicting various scenes from the bible. I tried to get a video showing them, and then have a few detailed pictures. These date from the 14th century and some of the facial expressions and gestures are quite interesting.

The detailed pictures: the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on a donkey, the Last Supper, and the Washing of the Feet.

Now for the South wall, which are more recent and so the sculpting techniques are a little bit different and the facial expressions seem more realistic.

The chapels in the apse were the most interesting, especially the Chapel Notre Dame de Sept-Deuleurs and the Chapel of Saint Georges.

The Chapel Notre Dame de Sept-Deuleurs is named for the thousand-year-old organization that protects the Crown of Thorns and the relics of the Passion. The stained-glass windows are on the East side and capture the first sun of the day. Each window was done by a different artist and while they were created in the 19th century, they were made using 14th-century stained-glass techniques.

The very modern circle in the middle is a new reliquary for the Crown of Thorns, that was completed in 2023. The Crown itself was NOT on display, but when it is displayed, it goes in the middle of this large circle. Personally ... not a big fan.

In these chapels is a small display honoring the firefighters who worked to save the church, but also the artwork and relics (like the crown of thorns).

Then the Chapel of Saint George with more nice stained-glass windows and a statue of Saint George slaying the dragon..

There are also some really nice frescoes which have been restored.