Paris1972-Versailles2003

Well no further words are needed , me think. Actually , looking at some of the older posts in my blog, I came to realised had only done updates on the fire and no direct post on this beauty ! Darn, so much to see and do and I overlook the best one!!! Early on in my blog I did a post on the historical aspects of it so took this 2010 post, rewrote it updated and put some pictures in to show you the sublime Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris!! Hope you enjoy as I did re doing it.

There is another monument that brings the crowds, but if there is one that identify the soul of Paris, France the most is the Cathedral Notre Dame de Paris. All the major events in history has gone by it or thru it,and one cannot possibly come to Paris without stopping for a visit here. Its a must. It is over 850 years history of Paris!

I happened to be there several times and able to climb the north tower for a wonderful look of Paris. As always, there is never enough times to see it better than all the rest as the famous song says.

The treasure by the southside of the choir on a narrow entry built by Viollet le Duc in 1850 houses amongst other things the passion relics, the palatine cross with fragments of the true cross of Christ, the linen shirt of Saint Louis, and the underwear of Pope Pie X  , amongst other things.  The tours or towers are visited also. There are just behind on the side entrance at rue du cloîte Notre Dame.

The Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral was built on the initiative of its bishop of Paris Maurice de Sully. The principal nave built between 1180-1220 is 60 meters long (198 ft) wide of 12,50 meters(41,25 ft) , and high of 33 meters(108,9 ft). The choir built between 1163-1177  is 36 meters long(118,8 ft) . The Cathedral continue to add and renovate until it was completed by 1345.

Some of the items not to be missed are pointed out as exterior and interior but let me give some ideas looking at it from the outside, facing the cathedral at the parvis or central plaza ( where all kilometer distances are measure in France )  you look left to the tour Nord=North,the other opposite tower is the Sud=South; both of these towers with rosary windows of 13,10 meters ( 43.2 ft) beyond these towers you see the pointed arrow=flèche and right across it is the transept. As you come in to the cathedral you are at the portail de la vierge or virgin door looking at it from left to right, you continue with the portail du jugement dernier or final judgement door,the portail de Sainte Anne or Saint Anne door. Right above the doors you have the Galerie des Rois or gallery of kings, above it the Rose Occidentale or western rosary window and still higher you see the Grande Galerie or grand gallery. To your extreme right still looking facing the cathedral you see the Contreforts or holding scaffolds tower like figures and a side door, red door or porte rouge; following past this you are walking on the south side of the Cathedral you will find the Portail Saint Etienne or Saint Stephen door ,and right above it the Rose du croisillon sud (9,70 meters or 32 ft a gift from Saint Louis) . Continuing to the rear you will see the buttress arches acting as a counter to the weight of the main building. and right behind the Cathedral you will find the Chevet or apse.

Now some descriptions on what you see on the Notre Dame Cathedral inside and out.  The parvis allows you to go into the archeological site where you will see a museum of the old foundations of the cathedral and the Seine river ,including a piece of the wall by the port or quai of the old Lutecia, remains of spas of gallo romans times, the wall of the city from the 4C, the basement of the old Hotel-Dieu, and the fondations of the hospital for lost children or hospice des enfants trouves.  The rose occidentale or western rosary measure 10 sq meters or about 170.6 sq ft done between 1190-1220. In the gallery of kings there were 28 figures from the time before Christ, the communards thought they were kings and destroyed them in 1873. They were rebuilt.  The grand gallery has a nice view over the parvis and the Seine river. On the virgin door the deco is from 1208 except the virgin mother statue over the serpent that is from the 19C. The red door or porte rouge is from 1250-1270 reserve for the monks entrance.

As you come inside, you will see the huge nave built between 1180-1220 and the choirs built between 1163-1220. You will find many chapels such as Chapelle Notre Dame des Sept Douleurs,Chapelle Saint Denis,Chapelle Sainte Madeleine, Chapelle Saint Ferdinand, Chapelle Saint Georges, Chapelle  Saint Guillaume, Chapelle Saint Louis, Chapelle Saint Marcel, Chapelle de la Sainte Enfance, Chapelle des Fonds Baptismaux, Chapelle Notre Dame de Gadalupe, Chapelle Saint Charles, Chapelle Sainte Clotilde, Chapelle Saint Landry, Chapelle Saint Vincent de Paul, Chapelle Sainte Anne, Chapelle Sainte Genevieve, Chapelle Saint Eloi, Chapelle Saint Joseph, and Chapelle Saint Pierre. The whole of the Cathedral proper is 4 800 sq meters (51 648 sq ft) , where accordingly about 9000 persons can attend Mass; total surface of 5 500 sq meters.

Some interesting information, the gallery of faces or chiméres are strange birds, serpents, are lookout to see the last judgement, there are not to be confused with the gargoyles which only function is to discharge the rain water coming from the roof towards the exterior.  The arrow pointed high behind the transept is built in oak covered with lead and along weights 750 tons, all with company from statues in copper in groups of three, the 12 apostles look toward the floor except one, that looks at the arrow, that is Saint Vincent patron of the architects! as design by Viollet-le-Duc.  At the foot of the transept south east section you will see a statue of the Virgin with a huge bouquet of flowers; this is the NOTRE DAME DE PARIS ,dating from the 14C and put at the Cathedral in 1818!!!

And yet another view go to the gallery of beasts or galerie de Chimères and the plateform of the tower south where a huge organ is held ;this made of copper and enamel weighting 13 tons;first use for the baptism of Emmanuel grandson of king Louis XIV in 1682. You need about 400 marches to reach it but all worth it. The organ has 110 beats and 8000 cables combinations and was restored in 1992, some of the cables are 11 meters high (36.3 ft) all kinds of music is played here beautifully. The roof is covered with 1326 lead tiles weighting about 210 tons. The bells one call Emmanuel has been recognised as one of the best sounds in Europe, weights 13 tons and the bat to hit it alone wights 500 kilos or about 1,102 pounds.

Some of the events that took place here was the coronation of Napoléon I   on December 2nd, 1804 in the presence of the Pope Pie VII, where Napoléon himself crown his emperatrice Josephine. It saw the excommunication of king Philippe Auguste in January of 1200 by Pope Innocent III as well as closure of the Cathedral. The parvis all merchants exempt of taxes are installed,as well as those sentence to die, nearby there the master of the templars order, Jacques de Molay  was executed in 1314.  The funerals of the Prince de Condé ,where bishop Bossuet did the ceremony (he was the personal priest and religious adviser of king Louis XIV and buried at the Cathedral of Meaux, dept 77 as he was its bishop); General De Gaulle, and Presidents Pompidou, and Mitterrand was held its funerals here too.  Saint Louis put his relics here first in 1329,Henry IV held a procession here in 1594 for the liberation of Paris, Louis XIII in 1638 does his wishes and voues to the Virgin, the Mass for the marriage of king Louix XIV is celebrated here in 1660, the ceremony for the liberation of Paris in August 1944 as well as the victory of WWII on May 9 1945 is held here.  The coming back to the crown of the Bourbons after the wedding of the Duke of Berry in 1816 ,and the baptism of the duke of Bordeaux in 1820 (Count of Chambord). Many many more in the life and history of the city of PARIS.

Some of the famous buildings surrounding the Notre Dame Cathedral often overlook by visitors but of great historical value are going in the direction of south tower side of the Cathedral, the huge Episcopal palace, followed by the Hotel-Dieu on a side street in front of parvis Notre Dame see the Church of Saint Christophe,  from parvis and guiding you by the north tower you will see the Church of St Pierre-aux-Boeufs (old church of the butchers). Right next to the north tower you see a small building which is the baptistery of St Jean-le-Rond, and on the corner of it is the side street to the tours or towers admission on rue du Cloîte Notre Dame. You should walk right out of the parvis straight out from the door of last judgement into the street Rue Neuve Notre Dame, one of the oldest in Paris.

The official Notre Dame de Paris webpage: https://www.notredamedeparis.fr/en/

The National Monuments of France on Notre Dame Cathedral: http://www.tours-notre-dame-de-paris.fr/en/

The Paris tourist office on Notre Dame Cathedral : https://en.parisinfo.com/paris-museum-monument/71475/Cathedrale-Notre-Dame-de-Paris-et-son-tresor

The society of Friends of Notre Dame de Paris, a group helping to support the Cathedral at all times over the years and even more now: http://xn--socitdesamisdenotre-damedeparis-e0cb.fr/la-societe/#page-content

Its not a complete story but I am sure will give you the force to visit and finds new ways to enjoy it as I have for many years. Hope you have enjoyed the story of this magnificent Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris for all of us in the hope we see it again as identical by 2024!  To come here is to see and hear the history of Paris,France.

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!

ps. See my several posts on the reconstruction of Notre Dame de Paris after the fire of April 15 2019. The official ministry of culture webpage info on that is here in French: https://notre-dame-de-paris.culture.gouv.fr/fr

And this is a project now, updating, revising, and getting the right pictures in my older posts. It has been a wonderful trip, and I thank you for following it along with me. And we go back to Paris, it would be wonderful to be back;;; in the meantime, here is a wonderful monument to see.

I will like to expand on a museum not as known in Paris but just as nice as any. This is an oddity as really never been in the Museum per se …!  As the times went by just happened to visit for meetings!!! It rent space for special events and I happened to be on them ! There is fun anecdote at the end of the post.

However, let get to the  museum of Arts et Métiers first.

The Museum of Arts and Crafts or Musée des Arts et Métiers is a museum of Science and Technology, as the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts, in the 3éme arrondissement of Paris. It was founded in 1794 on a proposal by Abbé Grégoire at the National Convention. The Conservatory of Arts and Crafts was originally an institution designed to train technicians and engineers using demonstrations made from scientific and technical objects. While the Cnam is now a major institution of higher education and research, its museum retains all the machines, models, designs that were used throughout the 19C and 20C. It continues to enrich its collections, in particular with the national mission for the safeguarding of the contemporary scientific and technical heritage, which has been entrusted to it since 2003 by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research.

The Arts et Métiers museum is by the metro Arts et Métiers of line 3 and 11 .  However, I will get off at Metro Rambuteau line 11 near the Centre Pompidou and walk along Rue Beaubourg to the Arts et Métiers museum on a nice walk in Paris, and I like it. If need to do some last minutes notes I would stop by the  Café Unicorners at No 67 for a working environment and a coffee. More here:  https://www.unicorners.fr/
Or for something more casual try the Café des Arts et Métiers  at 51 Rue de Turbigo.  Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/Caf%C3%A9-des-Arts-et-M%C3%A9tiers-152533531443969/

A bit of history I like

The Museum of Arts and Crafts is located in the buildings of the former Royal Priory of Saint-Martin-des-Champs. Nationalized in November 1789, this considerable architectural ensemble was assigned to the conservatory in 1798. The museum occupies the bodies of buildings where the monks of the ancient religious community were housed as well as the ancient Priory Church.

The collections of the Museum of Arts and Crafts currently account for nearly 46 000 inventory items. This includes about 80 000 objects (including 20 000 photographs) and 15 000 technical drawings forming the “Industrial portfolio”. Only about 2 500 objects are presented in the galleries of the museum, in Paris, the remainder being kept in specially arranged premises and meeting the standards of preventive conservation, in Saint-Denis.

The first collections were assembled at the initiative of the French mechanic Jacques de Vaucanson. In 1752, the latter installed at the Hotel de Mortagne, rue de Charone in Paris, a mechanics ‘ office where he gave demonstrations, particularly with the objects he designed and built, as the automations. Some of them, such as the mill to organize silk or the loom weaving the crafted fabrics, are among the oldest collections of the Museum of Arts and Crafts. Near the National Museum of Natural History, formed from the Old King’s Garden, the Conservatory of Arts and Crafts will bring together collections of aristocratic physics cabinets or the former Royal Academy of Sciences.  The galleries of the museum open their doors in May 1802. According to the idea of Abbé Grégoire, demonstrators explain to the visitors the operation of the machines.

The permanent exhibition of the Museum of Arts and Crafts is organized into seven thematic collections themselves divided into four chronological periods (before 1750, 1750-1850, 1850-1950, after 1950): Scientific Instruments, Materials, Construction, Communication, Energy, Mechanics and Transports. Additional presentations focus on particular points: the Lavoisier laboratory, the Automation Theater, Madame de Genlis’s teaching models. The ancient Church presents, among other things, the experience of the rotation of the Earth with the help of the Foucault’s Pendulum.

Since 2010, the model of the Statue of liberty of Bartholdi is exhibited in the Square du General Morin, forecourt of the museum.

I have been shown the museum rather brief quick on a business presentation so no pictures as many rooms photos are not allowed. However, have great funny experiences in the meeting here at the Conference room or Salle de Conferences, more on this place that can be rented in French here:https://www.arts-et-metiers.net/musee/location-despaces

Now, let me tell you my anecdote here.

The funny story is that having accepted to come to a meeting of top managers of French corporations, I decided to invite my assistance for the sake of training and initiation in the world of management.. As she is a Parisian of that time of 55 yrs old, I simply gave her the address of the conference entrance at 60 rue Réaumur and the museum as guidance. Funny thing in my previous travel forum where I read people telling their experience because a Parisian told them as proof that they are on the right. Well this and many other experiences can tell you not so folks.  Govt statistics by INSEE shows that one out of four Parisians are not from here. My assistance was late by about 20 minutes to the meeting, and when asked why, she told me thought been by there but frankly got lost! How can a native Parisian gets lost in Paris? Very simple they go as I found out later by the quartier or neighborhood and as much as the arrondissement or district (see those posts in my blog) and only there is their home. The rest of the city is like a foreign port ,after all in their quartiers they have everything they need to live, and not even have a car! (50% of all Parisians do not have a car) . So, therefore, make sure the person of Paris has done some travel ok lol! In the city I mean …..

Some webpages to help your plan your trip here are

The Arts and Crafts museum of Paris : https://www.arts-et-metiers.net/

The Paris tourist office on the museum: https://en.parisinfo.com/paris-museum-monument/71543/Musee-des-Arts-et-Metiers

And for the museum lovers, the Paris museum pass includes the Arts and Crafts museum: https://www.parismuseumpass.fr/t-en/musees-monuments/mus%C3%89e-des-arts-et-m%C3%89tiers?c=a-paris

It is really a nice place, and more time is needed indeed. Hope you like the post enough to come to see it. After all, this is Paris in a museum!

And as always, remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!