Cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris

The Cathedral of Notre Dame of Paris, dedicated to Mary, Mother of Jesucristo, is without a doubt, one of the symbols of the city, began to build in the year 1163 and completed in 1245. While it is not the largest Cathedral in France,it is one of the oldest French cathedrals in Gothic style and one of his most remarkable works of Gothic art.
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Located in the East of île de la Cité, surrounded by the waters of the Seine River, looking towards the West and gives on the square Notre Dame, where the zero point from which all distances in France are counted is, and is without a doubt one of the destinations forced the visit to the city of Paris. It reaches the 130 meters. long by 48 meters wide and a total height of 69 meters.
Between 1900 and 1937, he is remembered as the years of greatest splendor of the Cathedral in the field of art and music. Particularly highlighted his magnificent organ Cavaillé-Coll, being the square of titular organist of Notre - Dame one of the highest honors that can suck an organist.

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During the reign of Luis XIV, at the end of 17TH century, the Cathedral was the scene of disturbances. Between 1630 and 1707, gathered 77 large paintings, which recently were recovered many of them. During the French Revolution, several elements were destroyed and many stolen treasures, ending the space itself by serve as a warehouse for food.
In the flourishing of romantic-era Cathedral is seen with other eyes, and began a program of restoration of the Cathedral in 1844 and that stretched for more than 20 years. In the year 1871, they become the social turbulence, during which it is thought to have been nearly incinerated.
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At the height of romanticism, Victor Hugo wrote his novel "Notre Dame de Paris". Place the events in the Cathedral during the middle ages, it tells the story of Quasimodo, the hunchback who falls for the beautiful gypsy Esmeralda and the harassment of his uncle Frolo suffers. His illustration of the architecture of the Cathedral allowed many to discover it in a different way.
There are currently marked influences that, over time, settling in the style of the walls of the building; reminiscent of Romanesque Norman, with its strong and compact unit, on the other hand, the architectural evolution of the Gothic. The façade has three horizontal levels and is divided into three vertical zones by the lightly-prominent buttresses that unite in vertical position the two lower floors and reinforce the peaks of the two towers.
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In the façade we see three large portals. The Portal of the last judgement, the most important to the Center, displays sculptures representing the resurrection of the dead, an angel with a scale weighing virtues and sins and demons are the sinful souls, images that have had great weight in the popular in the middle ages. The two side portals were consecrated to the Virgin Mary and Santa Ana, his mother.
About 20 meters. soil, a gallery with 28 statues rises above the portals. Each statue, 3.5 meters in height, represents the 28 Kings of Judea that preceded the arrival of Christ. Of the original medieval statues are only fragments, since during the revolution were destroyed believing to represent French kings.
Over the central portal stands the large circular stained glass window of the rosette, almost 10 m in diameter, one of the most notable elements of the facade. However, this window is not the largest Cathedral, since South and North facades have stained glass windows of 13 meters in diameter. Above the rosette, a row of columns and the two bell towers round out the West face.
The place where the Cathedral was long before its construction linked to religious activities. The tribe of the parisii, Celtic the first inhabitants of the island, apparently there celebrated their rituals and later the Romans had erected a temple in honor of Jupiter.
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A first Christian Church would have been then in honor to Saint Etienne, and she built a Romanesque church, which is that lasted until 1163, year in which the Archbishop Maurice de Sully decided to the construction of the Cathedral.
The turbulence of history, the deterioration due to the passage of time and the new architectural trends made the Cathedral suffered numerous modifications and restorations, and the excavations under the Cathedral revealed the existence of catacombs of Roman and medieval rooms. 
Vía: visitandoelmundo