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54

FRANCE
BAY OF
BISCAY ITALY
• Bordeaux

ME OITE RAANEAN
SPAIN SEA

THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE-DAME
The novel Notre"Dame de Paris(1831),
published in English as The Hunchback of
Notre-Dame, was written by the Romantic
French novelist Victor Hugo (1802-85).
The hunchback of the title is the bell-ringer
Quasimodo, ward of the cathedral, and the
novel tells the story of his doomed love for
a dancer, Esmeralda. Notre-Dame features
strrogly 1n the work and Hugo used h1s book to
rail against rts neglect, dedari1'9 that medieval
cathedrals were "books in stroe" and should
be treasured. The novel aroused ..,.,;despread
interest in the restoration of the cathedral.

THE INTERIOR
Notre-Dame's interior grandeur is strikingly
apparent in its high-vaulted central nave. This
is bisected by a huge transept, at either end
of 't'kiich is a medieval rose window, 43ft
(13m) 1n diameter_ Works by famous sculptors
adorn the cathed a. Among them are Jean
Ravy' s char screen carvings, 1\icolas C oustou' s
PietfJ, which stands on a gilded base sculpted
by Fran'=ois Girardon, and Antoine Coysevox's
statue of Louis X IV The 13th-century stained-
glass North Rose Window depicts the Virgin
enci rei ed by figures from the 01 d Testament
A 14th-century statue of the Virgin and Child
stands against the transept's southeast pillar

GOTHIC STYLE
The Goth1c style emerged in France around
the erd of the 12th century ..,.,;th the BaSilica
of St-Denis (1137-1281), north of Paris, 't'kiere
most of the French monarchs are buned. The
pointed arch, the ribbed vault, tracery, and the
rose window were all used to great effect there
and were important features of the Gothic
style. The desire to build taller, ever more
magnificent, light -filled ecclesiastical buildings
grew. Another key feature emerged with the
use of flymg tuttresses, 't'kiich provided support
for high walls and helped redistribute the1r
weight With rts soaing interior and stained-
glass filtered light from the large rose wndows,
Notre-Dame Cathedral is one of the best-
known and most impressive examples of the
Gothic style. Across Europe in many countries,
architects took to the style with enthusiasm.