Notre Dame de Paris

Paris itself has never interested  me in and of itself, though I am very drawn to one of Paris’ more well known tourist attractions. The cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris has always interested me personally, whether it actually caught my attention itself , or I’m drawn to it because of the Disney movie is irrelevant.

notre dame

Contruction on the church began in 1163 under the rule of Louis VII. THe building of the choir itself took 14 years, and the Cathedral was not finished until the mid-1240’s. While the history is incredibly fulfilling, I was always more interested in the architecture of the church. It sports gargoyles on gargoyles and carvings of biblical beings, windows and towers, organs, and the ever famous bells. Though the bells of the Cathedral are quite famous and revered, many are not operational and are used instead as historic objects for tours and visitors of the church.

notre dame 2

For anyone actually interested, it is free to see the first two levels of the church, but you are required to produce funds to view the 3rd floor and above. I myself will need this information when I visit this summer, which is also apart of my reasoning when I chose this weeks blog post.

Mass is held on the weekends daily, and tours are constantly being offered, and it’s certainly a historic landmark that I plan on checking off my bucket list as soon as possible.

 

 

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre_Dame_de_Paris

http://www.notredamedeparis.fr/spip.php?article380

https://www.google.com/q=notre+dame+cathedral&safe=of2

Comments

  1. I actually still remember seeing the cathedral about 11 years ago. Absolutely beautiful! It reminds me that the middle ages actually had some benefits and breakthroughs. Whenever I think of the middle ages, I just think about incredibly poor quality of life, the Black Death, and torture. But I highly recommend you go there whenever you get the chance!

  2. I may be biased because I am half french and all of my dad’s side lives in Paris but YES I think this is a place you have to visit! It will take your breath away and you must go inside. Just another thought, you can actually take a ferry down the river (I forget the name) that flows right next to the Notre Dame and see it from the ferry! It’s also a very peaceful place to go at night time. I hope one day you get to experience it!

  3. As soon as I read the title of your post, I was hoping you would refer to Disney, and you did not disappoint. I think it’s really interesting that the church took so long to build; I can imagine walking past it everyday and wondering if it was ever going to be finished. And the idea of going to mass inside of such an architectural masterpiece sounds amazing to me, although I would probably be extremely distracted by al of the statues and carvings. But I really like the idea for your blog! Keep going strong!

  4. First, the cathedral of Notre Dame is an amazing landmark and a great feet of artist architecture that I plan on visiting. Second, I love the idea for the passion blog about your bucket list. It is a very creative, interesting, and, probably, very easy to write about idea.

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