The Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris is 850 years old this year.
You have to stop and think about how old that is.
And when you look at it, you have to think about the vision and bravery of the people who believed they could build this structure with not much more than blocks of wood and ropes for levers and pulleys, chisels and wooden mallets for cutting and carving stone and spades to dig foundations.
A big vision for a city of 220,000 people.
Because it is the anniversary, a huge viewing platform has been built in the forecourt of the cathedral to offer spectator seating and viewing for various religious ceremonies. But no ceremonies today, just tourists, and me amongst them with my camera.
Looking upwards. It is the architecture that fascinates me, rather than the inside decoration. How did they get the stone up there? How long did it take? Who designed it and how? Were there arguments about planning or set-backs? Did the neighbours complain? What were the height restrictions? Were there unions? How did they know the Seine wouldn't flood it? What was the budget?
I could go on and on.
This huge blue construction is the tiered seating and viewing arrangement in the forecourt.
Of course, we are only looking at the front of the cathedral in these photos. The beautiful buttresses and the apse are best seen from the bridges on the end of the Ile de Cité, behind the cathedral.
The front again, but from street level this time.
The stone used in Notre-Dame was from the first limestone quarries in Paris, before they began mining underground. (Remember the Catacombs in Post No. 22).
And if you want to climb the interminable, narrow, winding and totally claustrophobic stairway to the race that runs around the very top of the facade, then you need to join this queue in the street by the side of the cathedral and buy tickets. We did it in 1998. That was enough!
And finally, the reason we are here is not to see the cathedral at all, but to visit the archaeological crypt underneath the forecourt.
However I can't look at any cathedral without reliving every page of Ken Follet's Pillars of the Earth. If you haven't read it and you like good storytelling and history, do yourself a favour. In fact I have two copies and I'm happy to lend ........
But back to the crypte.
A stunning subterranean museé, if you enjoy pouring over the history of lumps of stone in barely comprehsible positions with vaguly deciperable markings. But if that grabs you, as it does me, you'll want to know that the crypt was created in 1980 to display the archaeological remains discovered during excavations for the cathedral car park, which took place between 1965 and 1972.
The crypt provides a unique overview of both the urban and architectural development of the Ile de Cité, the historical heart of Paris, from ancient times to the 20thC.
The city has been in a continuous state of construction and reconstruction for over 2,000 years. The Gallo-Roman town of Lutetia began to develop on the left bank of the Seine in the reign of Augustus (27BC - 14AD) in an area occupied by a Gaulish tribe called the Parisii. From about 250 AD and for 150 years, Lutetia was invaded by wave after wave of Germanic invasions. To defend themselves against the barbarians the Roman Empire fortified the Ile de Cité, in the middle of the river, and made this the strategic and political heart of their city.
The photo above is of an arched doorway in a building from around 700 AD built above the photo below, which is a stairway from a damp marshy area near the river, leading up and into the fortified ramparts of the city wall, from around 300 AD.
Above are Gallo-Roman baths, hard to believe, I know.
This was a small bath house from the 4thC and the ruins are almost complete. They include an entry courtyard for exercising, a cold room which was also the changing room and then a warm room, for chatting. This was followed by a hot room, for sweating, heated by under-floor heating. Next is the main room with two pools, one of which was very hot, heated by a boiler and the other cold. The stones were enhanced by a three-dimensional overhead projection of what the building actually looked like, which appeared over the top of the old rock. The whole complex was only 175 m2 or about 16 squares, not that big for all of the men and women of a Roman city.
Moving forward to the Middle Ages - all focus was on the cathedral which began in 1163. The population of Europe in this time quadrupled, as more land was cleared for cultivation.
In the 18thC many of the mediaeval buildings on the Ile de Cité were demolished to ease traffic and improve sanitation and the square in front of the cathedral was extended.
In the 19thC Baron Haussman carried out a radical program of urban restructuring throughout Paris which included destroying many old buildings and lanes on the Ile de Cité. The current layout of the cathedral square, the barracks, now police headquarters, the hospital and the surrounding streets are a result of his changes.
On the way home we walked past the Town Hall - the hotel de Ville.
It too has a large square or forecourt and the city of Paris constantly uses the square to host public events. At this time of year it is always in support of the French Open tennis tournament - Roland Garros.
Lots of men in their matching party-shirts leaning on the barricade.
Watching one guy doing all the work with the pressure washer. Typical!
That's a gigantic colour TV screen at the far end, with Notre-Dame in the background.
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