Page 86 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Paris

84  P ARIS AREA B Y AREA

A Guided Tour of Notre-Dame

Notre-Dame’s interior grandeur is instantly apparent on
seeing the high-vaulted central nave. This is bisected by a
huge transept, at either end of which are medieval rose
windows, 13 m (43 ft) in diameter. Works by major sculptors
adorn the cathedral. Among them are Jean Ravy’s old choir
screen carvings, Nicolas Coustou’s Pietà and Antoine
Coysevox’s Louis XIV statue. In this majestic setting, kings
and emperors were crowned and royal Crusaders were
blessed. But Notre-Dame was also the scene of turmoil.
Revolutionaries ransacked it, banished religion, changed
it into a temple to the Cult of Reason, and then used it
as a wine store. Napoleon restored religion in 1804 and 9 North Rose Window
architect Viollet-le-Duc later restored the buildings, This 13th-century stained-glass
replacing missing statues, as well as raising the spire window depicts the Virgin
encircled by figures from
and fixing the gargoyles. the Old Testament.

0 View and Gargoyles
The 387 steps up the north
tower lead to sights of the
famous gargoyles and
magnificent views of Paris.

Entrance to
the tower

Entrance

1 View of Interior
From the main entrance, the view takes 2 Le Brun’s “May”
in the high-vaulted central nave looking Paintings
down towards the huge transept, the These religious paintings
choir and the high altar. by Charles Le Brun hang
in the side chapels. In the
17th and 18th centuries,
Key the Paris guilds
presented a painting to
Suggested route
the cathedral on May
Day each year.

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