It's truly stunning. Bear in mind that because the original construction took centuries, this is truly a new Cathedral of Our Lady of Paris. Construction started in 1163, and the spire was rebuilt in 1844-64. We've *never* seen this building "new" it it's entirety like this, no one has. It's fantastic. My great memory of seeing in the 1990s was that it was much darker than I imagined it would be after learning so much about how Gothic architecture was about light and brightening the interiors (though it's relative- Romanesque churches are *quite* dark). This phoenix rising from the ashes is almost enough to make me want to visit Paris again.
Oh, and that 'pastor' Paul Rock of the American Church in Paris, he's a dope. Talking about the Cathedral calling "together both the historical and revolutionary past..." My God, the ignorance. The French revolutionaries wanted to burn the cathedral to the ground- the only reason they didn't was because there was an adjacent hospital at the time. To talk about the cathedral in terms of meaning something to the "revolution" is disgusting.
Yikes! I don't really know much of the history -- my historical focus is either much farther east or much later.
Have you seen "Secrets of the Castle"? The castle project was just wrapping up (or had just wrapped up?) when the cathedral caught fire, so many of the craftsmen who had spent years honing medieval craftsmanship on the castle turned around and went to work on rebuilding the cathedral, or so I've heard.
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It's truly stunning. Bear in mind that because the original construction took centuries, this is truly a new Cathedral of Our Lady of Paris. Construction started in 1163, and the spire was rebuilt in 1844-64. We've *never* seen this building "new" it it's entirety like this, no one has. It's fantastic. My great memory of seeing in the 1990s was that it was much darker than I imagined it would be after learning so much about how Gothic architecture was about light and brightening the interiors (though it's relative- Romanesque churches are *quite* dark).
This phoenix rising from the ashes is almost enough to make me want to visit Paris again.
Oh, and that 'pastor' Paul Rock of the American Church in Paris, he's a dope. Talking about the Cathedral calling "together both the historical and revolutionary past..." My God, the ignorance. The French revolutionaries wanted to burn the cathedral to the ground- the only reason they didn't was because there was an adjacent hospital at the time. To talk about the cathedral in terms of meaning something to the "revolution" is disgusting.
Yikes! I don't really know much of the history -- my historical focus is either much farther east or much later.
Have you seen "Secrets of the Castle"? The castle project was just wrapping up (or had just wrapped up?) when the cathedral caught fire, so many of the craftsmen who had spent years honing medieval craftsmanship on the castle turned around and went to work on rebuilding the cathedral, or so I've heard.
Oh that definitely sounds interesting, and fortuitous!
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