Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France
There is so much history in Paris, which often do not know where to start, with many monuments to visit, you can not forget visiting the Notre Dame Cathedral that is over 800 years!
Located on a small island of Ile de la Cité in the middle of the river Seine, its official name is the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, but is often known simply as Notre Dame is a Gothic cathedral that took almost 200 years to be complete. First, it began in 1163 during the reign of King Louis VII, but not completed until around 1345.
Although Notre Dame has held many important events, such as Henry VI of England is crowned king of France in 1431, over the years fell into disrepair. But it was Napoleon that saved from the demolition of the church in 1802 and then was crowned Emperor in 1804, however, was still in very bad state of deterioration.
We are sure you have heard of the novel by Victor Hugo called the hunchback of Notre Dame and this story is what brought people to raise funds for its restoration, which managed to bring back almost to its former glory.
And indeed, after the start of World War II, it was feared that German bombers could destroy the windows so they were removed and restored at the end of the war and one particular round stained glass window, called the Rose Window is the window largest in the world where there has been in the 13th century, and still contains the original medieval glass.
Notre Dame translates as Our Lady and this monument in Paris is still used as a Roman Catholic cathedral of the Sunday Mass, is the seat of the Archbishop of Paris and is used for large events, where the famous bell tower is placed. But instead of manpower the bell is placed automatically, and now, a rise of the staircase, we can see this enormous bell that was saved from being melted.
Also, when climbing a bell tower and you can see the flying buttress style used in the construction of the Cathedral of Notre Dame, along with the gargoyles on the exterior of the building, designed to prevent evil spirits and to go beyond giving an excellent view of the city, but about 140 more steps.
It is now clear that each body has a cathedral, but Notre Dame has had several, though the former were far from sufficient and reasonable to the first organ was installed in the early 1700s with some of the remaining original pipes today.
But one of the organs of the old cathedral can be seen at the Museum of Notre Dame de Paris, with musical scores, notes and personal items that are on display from Louis Vierne, organist at the famous cathedral and the museum is only one street away from the cathedral. Despite the small is very old and fascinating, interesting documents, including drawings, prints and drawings that reveal the mysteries and various development stages of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral plus the life in the city of Lutecia before it was known as Paris.
Also in the plaza in front of Notre Dame there is a plaque set in motion by André Michelin, founder of the Michelin tire company, and it is from this point that all distances are measured in France.
Open every day of the year, the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris is free to enter although there is a company in charge of the tower, which is accessed on the outside of the church on the left side when looking at the main entrance of the cathedral.
You can also take a guided tour, which is organized by the cathedral staff itself and these are conducted in different languages on different days of the week. For example, the English guided tours are offered on a Wednesday at 2pm, Thursday at 2 pm and Saturday at 2.30pm. tours in other languages like Spanish, Russian, Japanese, etc. are held at different times, but any of these may be canceled if there is a special occasion, so always worth consulting with staff on site, or phone call before.
So if you go for pilgrimage or just as a tourist, this fascinating building which has become a monument in Paris, can not miss in your holidays in France.
