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| South rose window at Notre-Dame. |
The cathedral of Notre-Dame is ever present in pop culture, having appeared in Victor Hugo's Hunchback of Notre Dame and countless works stemming from Hugo's, including various musicals. However, it is also known for its great beauty and awe-inspiring presence, stemming from the Middle Ages.
Its construction began in 1160, and it was not completed entirely for another hundred years (with renovations and construction continuing even into the modern era). Its French Gothic architecture features gorgeous rose windows (amidst other stained glass), flying buttresses, pointed arches, and ribbed vaulting, making the structure stand out from predecessors that were predominantly Romanesque. It is built upon an incredible amount of wooden framework, strong enough to support the building and 231 tons of lead roofing. By any standards, modern or medieval, Notre-Dame is an incredible - and beautiful - architectural feat.
Notre-Dame was much more than a beautiful facade to those who lived to see it built and thriving. Medieval cathedrals were certainly beautiful structures meant to inspire those who worshiped within, but they also served as public gathering places. In their prime they bustled with life, bells tolling for holidays and special occasions, officials coming and going. Cathedral schools provided a new path to education, branching away from monasticism and producing their own scholars of great renown. Notre-Dame was also filled with music, with vocal music and organ music resonating through the halls. The cathedral still serves some of these functions today; though it has, in ways, become a tourist site and museum, it still thrives as a cathedral, with celebrations and masses still held within. As a modern, functional cathedral, Notre-Dame is a treasure, standing through the tests of time to give us a glimpse into the colorful, bustling medieval life so often overlooked in modern film and literature.
Sources:
Bennett, Judith M. Medieval Europe: A Short History, 7th ed., McGraw-Hill, 2011.
Cathedrale Notre Dame de Paris: Cathedral for Art and History. 2016, http://www.notredamedeparis.fr/spip.php?rubrique71.
