Historic French Chateaux #5: Château d’Angers

by J. M. Hochstetler

Château d’Angers Overhead View

In today’s fifth installment of my series on the historic châteaux of France, we’re taking a look at the imposing Château d’Angers in the city of Angers, overlooking the Maine River in the Loire Valley. The site was originally occupied by the Romans for its strategic defensive position on the hill that is the city’s highest point. In the 9th century the Bishop of Angers gave the Counts of Anjou permission to build a fortress in the city to protect Anjou against invasion by the Normans.

Château d’Angers South View

Count Fulk III (970–1040), fortified the first château, which was briefly taken over by England’s Angevin Empire in the 12th century. It returned to French control when Philip II of France conquered the region in 1204. In 1234 his grandson Louis IX began construction on a new castle in white stone and black slate that expanded the fortress to its current size and cost 4,422 livres, roughly one per cent of the estimated royal revenue at that time.

The impressive outer wall is 9.8 ft. thick, with seventeen massive towers 59 ft. in diameter guarding its approximately 2,170 ft. length. The château and grounds cover an area of 220,000 sq. ft. Its city and the landward entrances are each guarded by two towers that once stood 130 ft. high but were later cut down to accommodate artillery. Louis gave it to his brother Charles in 1246.

Sainte Chapelle

In 1352 King John II le Bon, gave the château to his second son Louis, who later became the count of Anjou. He made alterations to the structure and in 1373 commissioned the painter Hennequin de Bruges and the Parisian weaver Nicolas Bataille to create the famous Apocalypse Tapestry. He and his wife, Yolande d’Aragon, added royal apartments and a sainte chapelle, a church that enshrines a relic of the Passion, in this case a fragment of the True Cross. In the early 15th century, before becoming king with Joan of Arc’s assistance, Charles VII found sanctuary there after he was forced to flee Paris.

Castle Chatelet, Entrance to Inner Wards

In 1562 Catherine de’ Medici had the castle restored, but, her son, Henry III, stripped the battlements from its towers and walls. He also cut down the towers, leaving only the Tour du Moulin at its original height, and used the stones for improving and expanding the village of Angers and paving its streets. Faced with the threat of attack by the Huguenots, however, Henry again made it a military post and installed artillery on its upper levels. It housed the city’s Revolutionary Committee during the French Revolution, and at the end of the 18th century its formidable walls withstood a massive bombardment during the War in the Vendée.

Interior Gardens

In the early 19th century the Military Academy of Anger took over the château. One of its most famous students was Arthur Wellesley, first Duke of Wellington, who is best known for his part in the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. After the academy was moved elsewhere, the château served as a prison, then as a powder magazine and barracks. Designated a historical monument in 1875, it continued to be used as an armory through WWI and WWII. In 1944 the Allies bombed the fortress, which the Nazis were using to store ammunition. Three of the bomb fell directly inside the castle walls and caused extensive damage to the chapel’s vault, roofs, and royal Logis.

Apocalypse Tapestries

The château was rebuilt and restored after the war. The city of Angers took ownership and converted it to a museum. Today it houses the world’s oldest and largest collection of medieval tapestries, including the famous 14th-century Apocalypse Tapestries depicting scenes from the Book of Revelation that are ranked among the most important treasures of pre-Renaissance French art. Thankfully they remained untouched by a fire in 2009 that caused an estimated 2 million euros in damage to the château, which has since been completely restored.

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Northkill Amish Series

J. M. Hochstetler is the daughter of Mennonite farmers and a lifelong student of history. She is a professional editor, a publisher, and the author of award-winning historical fiction whose books have been endorsed by bestselling authors such as Lori Benton, Laura Frantz, and Jocelyn Green. Her American Patriot Series is the only comprehensive historical fiction series on the American Revolution. She is also the author of One Holy Night, the Christian Independent Publishers Association 2009 Book of the Year, and co-authored the award-winning Northkill Amish Series with Bob Hostetler. 

Historic French Chateaux #4: Château de Chambord

By J. M. Hochstetler

Northwest Facade

I don’t know about you, but in the dead of winter I tend to dream about warm climes and romantic locales. So today, in the fourth installment of my series on the historic châteaux of that most romantic of destinations, France, we’re taking a look at Château de Chambord, a magnificent example of French Renaissance architecture and the grandest and most popular château in the Loire Valley. Like other 16th-century châteaux, this one looks like a castle. The central keep forms part of the front wall of a larger compound, four huge bastion towers guard the corners, and there’s a partial moat. But since Chambord was never intended to be used as a fortification, these features are merely decorative and would provide minimal defense in case of enemy attack.

Pierre-Denis Martin (1663-1742)

Chambord was built between 1519 and 1547 as a weekend hunting retreat for François I of France but soon became one of the most ambitious and expensive building projects any French monarch ever undertook. Construction was repeatedly delayed by war, insufficient royal funds, the difficulties in laying the structure’s foundations, and other design issues. Yet when the building was finally completed, the king found the elaborate chateau too drafty and difficult to supply. The loggia, the large high-ceilinged rooms with unglazed windows, and the expansive terrace at the top were completely impractical in northern France’s chilly, damp climate. To make matters worse, Chambord was built in a forest with no villages or other estates nearby, which meant that the only local source of food was game. The château was also left completely unfurnished, so that with up to 2,000 guests and servants attending the king, all necessary supplies including furniture had to be imported. François ended up spending much more time at his chateaux in Amboise and Blois, only staying at Chambord for a total of 72 days during his 32-year reign.

Aerial view

The structure’s design, attributed to Italian architect Domenico da Cortona contributed greatly to the cost. François wanted the palace to reflect Constantinople’s skyline, so its towers were designed to look like 15th-century Milan’s minarets rather than the typical turrets and spires of the period. There are 11 different kinds of towers and 3 types of chimneys, all asymmetrical and framed at the corners by the massive towers. Henry James observed that “the towers, cupolas, the gables, the lanterns, the chimneys, look more like the spires of a city than the salient points of a single building.” As a carpenter’s daughter, I can tell you that all those angles and corners drove up the price! By François’ death in 1547, construction had cost the then astronomical sum of 444,070 livres. Sounds like some of the boondoggles our government has financed, doesn’t it?

View of spiral staircase

Though Chambord is most well-known for its exterior, the interior is just as impressive. Its layout is an example of the French and Italian practice of grouping rooms into suites rather than the medieval style of building rooms to open directly from one into another. The château consists of 440 rooms, 282 fireplaces, and 84 staircases. But its most famous feature is the spectacular double helix staircase dominating the keep’s center. Some experts believe the design was inspired by Leonardo da Vinci, though this isn’t confirmed. John Evelyn described it as “devised with four entries or ascents, which cross one another, so that though four persons meet, they never come in sight, but by small loopholes, till they land.” The stairwell is lighted from above through a lantern tower, the château’s highest, and offers access to innumerable chimneys and sculpted capitals on the building’s upper terraces.

After Francis died in 1547, the château stood empty until 1639, when King Louis XIII gave it to his brother, who embarked on a restoration. Later King Louis XIV had the great keep refurbished as a hunting lodge, furnished the royal apartments, and added a 1,200-horse stable. He used it to entertain for a few weeks each year but by 1685 he’d lost interest. King Louis XV’s father-in-law, the deposed King of Poland lived in it for a while, then Louis gave it to Maurice de Saxe, who installed his military regiment on the property and began to furnish the château with woodwork, parquet floors, ceilings, and private petits cabinets. Those efforts ended with his death in 1750.

Double spiral staircase

Chambord didn’t fare too badly during the French Revolution, though some of the furnishings were sold off. Wall paneling and even floors were taken up and sold for the value of the wood, while doors provided firewood to keep the rooms warm while the sales were going on. The structure remained intact, however, though the château was left empty until Napoleon Bonaparte gave it to a subordinate. During subsequent years it passed through other hands, but finally in 1840 the chateau was registered on the first list of French historical monuments, and the Duke of Bordeaux, grandson of King Charles X, took on its maintenance. He instituted a major restoration and officially opened the château to the public, but his death in 1883 ended these efforts too. In 1915 after the onset of World War I, Chambord was confiscated as enemy property. Ownership returned to France in 1930, and during the World War II artworks from the Louvre and the Château de Compiègne were moved to Chambord for safekeeping.

Another restoration was begun after World War II, and Chambord has been designated a UNESCO world heritage site since 1981. Today extensive formal French-style gardens and water features characteristic of the 16th century surround the château within a 13,000-acre wooded park and game reserve enclosed by a 19-mile long wall. The château is open to the public and receives hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. Flooding in June 2016 damaged the grounds but thankfully the château itself remained undamaged.

Louis XIV’s Ceremonial Bedroom

If you ever make it to the estate for a visit, you can watch a film inside the main building that gives an excellent introduction to the château’s history and architecture. Today the building is sparsely furnished, but visitors can view its 18th-century kitchens on the ground floor and the most interesting rooms including the royal bedchambers on the first floor. From the roof, accessed through the great lantern tower atop the famous spiral staircase, one can marvel at the chateau’s fairytale roofline of turrets, chimneys, cupolas, and domes, and look out across the estate’s vast grounds. Hour-long guided tours in English are offered in the summer along with outdoor spectacles that include birds of prey and an equestrian show with horses and riders decked in colorful 16th-century accoutrements.

It’s nice to see that, although French kings often emptied the public coffers to build their pleasure palaces, today these extraordinary buildings enable France to rake in piles of cash to benefit her citizens, all to the delight of tourists. All I can say is “Vive la France!”

As a lover of European medieval history, I’d be thrilled to take a grand tour of the continent’s castles, but especially those in the historically Germanic areas where my ancestors originated. There are also stunningly romantic castles in Europe’s Slavic regions and elsewhere. If you have a European or English heritage, what areas would you love to visit? And if you ancestry lies elsewhere, please share that information and let us know what places you would love to visit if you were doing genealogical research into your family!

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J. M. Hochstetler is the daughter of Mennonite farmers and a lifelong student of history. She is a professional editor, a publisher, and the author of award-winning historical fiction whose books have been endorsed by bestselling authors such as Lori Benton, Laura Frantz, and Jocelyn Green. Her American Patriot Series is the only comprehensive historical fiction series on the American Revolution. She is also the author of One Holy Night, the Christian Small Publishers 2009 Book of the Year, and co-authored the award-winning Northkill Amish Series with Bob Hostetler.

France’s Historic Châteaux: Roquetaillade

By J. M. Hochstetler

Roquetaillade, front view

This is the second installment of a series I’m doing on historic French chateaux. Since many of Europe’s medieval wars were fought in France, the country has a seemingly endless supply of these richly historic structures. And what could possibly be more picturesque and romantic than a castle? These imposing, sometimes extravagant fortifications are the stuff of legends—and romance novels. In fact, Book 6 of my American Patriot Series, Refiner’s Fire, is partially set in 18th century France, where my heroine lives for a time in a chateau, so naturally I ended up digging more deeply into the subject.

Charlemagne by Albrecht Durer,
1511-1513

The French word château has a wider meaning than the English word castle. Forts, palaces, mansions, and even vineyards can be included in this category. For the purposes of my story, however, I focused on actual castles and palaces. Today we’re taking a look at the famous Château de Roquetaillade.

Roquetaillade means carved out of rock and refers to the troglodyte caves beneath the castle. The château is the most visited castle in France’s Bordeaux region. Its enclosure surrounds two impressive stone castles, the oldest built by Charlemagne as a timber motte and bailey castle in the 10th century while his army was on the march to the Pyrenees. Over time this old castle was rebuilt in stone, but today only the imposing ruins remain of what was a bleak fortress with walls pierced mainly by arrow loops, with few windows.

In 1306, with the permission of the English King Edward I, Cardinal de la Mothe, the nephew of Pope Clement V built a second fortress, le Château Neuf, which was square in design with six towers and a central keep. The same family has resided there ever since, though the occupants have had five changes in surnames because the property was often passed down to daughters.

Side view

The fortress underwent a major renovation in the 17th century. The first story arrow loops were replaced with Renaissance windows, the battlements were more elegantly reconstructed while remaining functional, and the interior was redesigned for greater beauty. The family survived the terrors of the French Revolution, and in 1864 owner Louis le Blanc commissioned the famed architect Eugene Viollet le Duc to redecorate the castle again and make it more liveable. He created the chateau’s extraordinary interior decorations including a magnificent staircase and elegant bedrooms. According to one travel site, the stone masons who worked on the castle placed a secret message under one of the columns in the front hall: a carved monkey, eating a piece of fruit. Supposedly that was a sign to other workers that they would be treated fairly and paid well by the owners. If the monkey had been portrayed scratching his back, it would have offered a warning that this was not a good place to work!

The château’s park includes remains of the medieval curtain wall with the barbican, the Pesquey stream and its banks, the 19th century chalet, and the Crampet pigeon loft. The current owner, the Vicomte Sébastien de Baritault du Carpia, his wife Rosalind, and their family, actively maintain and promote the castle, which has been open to the public since 1956. The chateau produces a famous white wine, Chateaufort de Roquetaillade, and Bazadais cattle, shown at right, are bred there. The castle has also been used as a location in several films and in 1976 was named a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture.

Do you have a favorite novel—or nonfiction book—that involves castles? One of mine is Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott. Please share your favorite and what appealed to you most about the story.

Also be sure to check out the brief video below featuring the property’s current owner and lovely shots of the  castle’s interior!

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J. M. Hochstetler is the daughter of Mennonite farmers and a lifelong student of history. She is a professional editor, a publisher, and the author of award-winning historical fiction whose books have been endorsed by bestselling authors such as Lori Benton, Laura Frantz, Jocelyn Green, Michelle Moran, and MaryLu Tyndal. Her American Patriot Series is the only comprehensive historical fiction series on the American Revolution. She is also the author of One Holy Night, which won the Christian Small Publishers 2009 Book of the Year and co-authored the award-winning Northkill Amish Series with Bob Hostetler. Her latest release is Refiner’s Fire, Book 6 of the American Patriot Series.

Historic French Châteaux

By J. M. Hochstetler

Refiner’s Fire, Book 6 of my American Patriot Series, is partially set in 18th century France. While writing it, I did some research on French châteaux, among other things. I discovered that word château has a wider meaning than the English word castle; forts, palaces, mansions, and even vineyards can be included in this category. But for my purposes I focused on actual castles and palaces.

For me there’s nothing more picturesque and romantic than a castle. And there’s a seemingly endless supply of these richly historic structures in France since many of Europe’s medieval wars were fought in that country. So in my next few posts, we’re going to take a look at several well-known French castles and palaces. Today we’ll focus on the famous  Cité de Carcassonne.

Cité de Carcassonne

Cité de Carcassonne

The lovely hilltop town of Carcassonne is more than just a castle. Known as the Cité de Carcassonne, the citadel is a beautifully preserved medieval town that dates back to the Gallo-Roman period and the finest extant example of a medieval fortress in Europe. It’s a historical gem that was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1997.

Fortified Walls

Carcassonne is one of the major towns in the Languedoc region in the south of France, located 80 kilometers east of Toulouse in the plain of the river Aude. It dominates historic trade routes that linked the Atlantic to the Mediterranean Sea and the Massif Central to the Pyrénées. The Romans quickly recognized the location’s strategic importance and occupied the hilltop until the Western Roman Empire fell. The Visigoths subsequently took it over in the fifth century and founded the city, and thereafter a succession of rulers expanded its fortifications until the mid 17th century.

The fortified city was designed with two outer walls with 53 towers and barbicans to prevent attack by siege engines. The castle has its own drawbridge and ditch that guard a central keep. A total of 53 towers built over a long period fortify its walls. A Roman section is noticeably different from the medieval walls, with layers of red brick and roofs of terracotta tile that have a shallow pitch. One of the towers housed the Catholic Inquisition in the 13th century and is still known as the Inquisition Tower. Carcassonne was the first fortress to use hoardings during sieges. Shown at left, these enclosed projecting wooden walkways temporarily built beneath a tower’s roof allowed the fort’s defenders to drop projectiles on attackers below.

Carcassonne was demilitarized under Napoleon and the Restoration. The fortified cité fell into such disrepair that the French government decided to demolish it. The decree caused an uproar and led to a campaign to preserve the fortress as a historical monument.

Drawing of Carcassonne. 1462

The architect and legendary gothic revivalist Eugène Viollet-le-Duc was commissioned to renovate it in 1853. The drawing of Carcassonne on the right was found by Jean-Pierre Cros-Mayrevieille in the Gaignières collection of the Bibliothèque Royale. It had a major influence on the project to restore the fortress by reinforcing Viollet-le-Duc’s idea that all of the towers were topped with conical roof trussing. His main focus became to restore the town’s roofs, towers, and ramparts. Unfortunately he ordered the destruction of structures that had encroached on the walls, some of which were of very old. He also used slate instead of terra cotta tiles for the roofs and added pointed tips, which are more typical of northern France. The restoration was strongly criticized during his lifetime, but overall it is generally considered a work of genius, even though it isn’t strictly authentic.

I hope you enjoyed learning about this outstanding fortress city. Join me next month as I delve into more French historical chateaux!

Do you find castles romantic and fascinating too? Please share what appeals the most to you about these amazing fortresses! Is it the structure itself? The historical or social context? The people who inhabited them and how they lived within these strongholds? Something else?

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J. M. Hochstetler is the daughter of Mennonite farmers and a lifelong student of history. She is a professional editor, a publisher, and the author of award-winning historical fiction whose books have been endorsed by bestselling authors such as Lori Benton, Laura Frantz, Jocelyn Green, Michelle Moran, and MaryLu Tyndal. Her American Patriot Series is the only comprehensive historical fiction series on the American Revolution. She is also the author of One Holy Night, which won the Christian Small Publishers 2009 Book of the Year, and co-authored the award-winning Northkill Amish Series with Bob Hostetler. Her latest release is Refiner’s Fire, Book 6 of the American Patriot Series.

Notre Dame Cathedral Part 4: Iconography

By J. M. Hochstetler

Western Façade

Today I’m continuing my series on the magnificent Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris as it was before the recent fire. In this installment, we’ll focus on the decorations that grace the exterior, or its iconography.

The devil weighing sinners' souls

Gothic cathedrals and churches in a very real sense functioned as a liber pauperum, or poor people’s book. Since the great majority of people at that time were illiterate, they featured a wealth of sculptures that illustrated biblical stories. Notre Dame is one of the most impressive examples ever built. Originally all the sculptures on its façades were painted and gilded, which must have created quite a stunning effect, particularly for rural peasants and the city’s poor. The picture above shows the lower part of the cathedral’s front or western façade that faces the square. The statues at the top portray the 28 kings of Judea and Israel. Below, from left to right are the portals of the Virgin, the Last Judgement, and Saint-Anne. The tympanum over the central portal is composed of figures of sinners being led off to hell, while good Christians are being taken to heaven. The right portal shows the coronation of the Virgin Mary, and the left the lives of saints who are especially important to Parisians, foremost among them Saint Anne, the Virgin Mary’s mother.

Allegory of Alchemy

Not all the sculptural decoration portrays religious figures, however. Some is devoted to medieval science and philosophy. The central portal of the west façade includes figures holding circular plaques decorated with alchemistic symbols. The central door’s center pillar at left features a statue of a woman on a throne holding a scepter in her left hand. In her right are two books, one of which is open (symbolizing public knowledge), and the other closed (symbolizing esoteric knowledge). A ladder with seven steps represents the seven steps alchemists followed in their quest to transform ordinary metals into gold.

Chimera

Strix

The exteriors of gothic cathedrals and churches also featured various grotesques or monsters. Notre Dame’s were added in about 1240, and include gargoyles; chimeras, which are a mythical hybrid creature with the body of a lion and the head of a goat; and strix or stryge, creatures resembling owls or bats that were said to eat human flesh. Taken from figures in classical Roman literature, they were symbols of the evil that those who did not follow the teachings of the church would face. The gargoyles have a practical purpose as well. They serve as rain spouts to project rainwater away from the building as far as possible to prevent it from eroding the mortar between the stones, consequently a large number were used to create many thin streams. Rainwater runs from the roof into lead gutters from which it flows down channels on the flying buttresses, then along channels cut into the backs of the gargoyles and out its mouth. Many statues and grotesques, were removed during the 17th and 18th centuries, and more were destroyed during the French Revolution. During the cathedral’s restoration in the 1800s these were replaced with figures in the Gothic style designed by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc.

Gargoyles

Let’s finish off with an informative brief video on how the Cathedral of Notre Dame was built.

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J. M. Hochstetler is the daughter of Mennonite farmers and a lifelong student of history. She is a professional editor, a publisher, and the author of award-winning historical fiction whose books have been endorsed by bestselling authors such as Lori Benton, Laura Frantz, Jocelyn Green, Michelle Moran, and MaryLu Tyndal. Her American Patriot Series is the only comprehensive historical fiction series on the American Revolution. She is also the author of One Holy Night, which won the Christian Small Publishers 2009 Book of the Year and co-authored the award-winning Northkill Amish Series with Bob Hostetler. Her latest release is Refiner’s Fire, Book 6 of the American Patriot Series.

Notre Dame Cathedral, Part 3: Rose Windows

Today I’m continuing my series on the magnificent Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris as it was before the recent fire. Thankfully the French Senate recently approved plans for an exact restoration, rejecting proposals to drastically modernize its appearance. It turns out that the majority of the experts and the public agree that it’s a historical artifact and should be restored to its former glory, with which I heartily concur.

West Rose
Photo by Zairon - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0

In this installment, I want to focus on the three exquisite medieval rose windows that are the real standouts of the cathedral’s features. The fire left these intact, though they suffered some damage. According to the cathedral’s rector, one of the windows is unstable and will have to be dismantled for repair. That may already have taken place as restoration is already underway.

The West Rose

The first rose window to be installed is the one over the west portals. It’s also the smallest at a little over 32 feet in diameter. It was created in about 1225, with the colored glass pieces placed in a thick circular stone frame. Because of damage it had to be recreated in the 1800s, and none of the original glass remains. (Along the bottom of the window in the image to the left you can see parts of the cathedral’s magnificent pipe organ.)

North Rose
By Zairon - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0

The Transept Roses

The North Rose

The two transept windows are larger and contain more glass than the rose on the western façade. This was possible due to the new system of flying buttresses that enabled the builders to make the nave walls not only thinner, but also stronger. The north rose was installed around 1250 and 18 small vertical windows were added below it.

The South Rose

King Louis IX of France, known as Saint Louis, gave the south rose to the Cathedral. Its size and beauty sets it apart. Created around 1260, it’s 12.9 meters in diameter; while the surrounding claire-voie brings it to a total of 19 meters. Some of the original medallions were moved into circles farther out during restorations in later centuries. Let’s take a closer look at this masterpiece.

Ninety-four medallions are arranged in four circles around the central rose depicting scenes from the life of Christ. The twelve medallions of the inner circle portray the twelve apostles, while the next two circles depict martyrs and virgins. The outer fourth circle includes twenty angels, as well as saints such as Saint Denis, Margaret the Virgin with a dragon, and Saint Eustace that are important to Paris. The third and fourth circles also contain depictions of Old Testament subjects, while the third circle includes medallions showing scenes from the Matthew’s Gospel that are the oldest glass in the window, dating from the last quarter of the 12th century.

South Rose
Public Domain

In 1543 the south rose suffered damage when the cathedral’s masonry walls settled. It wasn’t restored until between 1725 and 1727 and was again badly damaged during the second French Revolution in 1830 when rioters burned the archbishop’s residence, which was next to the cathedral. Many of its panes were destroyed. In 1861 Eugène Viollet-le-Duc entirely rebuilt the window, rotating it to give it a clear vertical and horizontal axis and replacing the lost glass to match so that today it contains both medieval and 19th century glass. Below are sixteen windows with painted images of biblical prophets. Not part of the original window, they were painted by Alfred Gérenthe under Viollet-le-Duc’s direction during the restoration and are based on a similar window at Chartres Cathedral.

The rose windows are indeed extraordinary! Some of you may have had the good fortune to visit Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and see them in person. But even if you haven’t, there are many beautiful cathedrals and churches endowed with lovely stained glass windows in this country. Please share any you’ve visited that particularly stood out to you and tell us what features you most enjoyed!

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J. M. Hochstetler is the daughter of Mennonite farmers and a lifelong student of history. She is a professional editor, a publisher, and the author of award-winning historical fiction whose books have been endorsed by bestselling authors such as Lori Benton, Laura Frantz, Jocelyn Green, Michelle Moran, and MaryLu Tyndal. Her American Patriot Series is the only comprehensive historical fiction series on the American Revolution. She is also the author of One Holy Night, which won the Christian Small Publishers 2009 Book of the Year and co-authored the award-winning Northkill Amish Series with Bob Hostetler. Her latest release is Refiner’s Fire, Book 6 of the American Patriot Series.

Notre-Dame de Paris, Part 2: Exterior Features--and a Giveaway!

By Joan Hochstetler

View of Notre-Dame de Paris by Gilbert Bochenek (2011)

The Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris was in the news last month because of the fire that started on the evening of April 15, while the cathedral’s roof was being repaired. I became interested in the cathedral while doing research for my upcoming release, Refiner’s Fire, which is partially set in Paris. In my last post I covered the building’s history, and over the next couple of months I plan to highlight some of the marvelous details and treasures Notre Dame contains. Today I’m focusing on its exterior features.

Notre Dame is an imposing 420 ft. long, 157 ft. wide, and 115 ft. high, excluding the two massive towers at the main entrance on the western side. These are among its most recognizable features and were the last major part of the cathedral that was constructed. The south tower was built between 1220 and 1240 and houses the 13-ton Emmanuel bell. The north tower was built between 1235 and 1250 and at 226 ft. is slightly taller than the south tower as you can see in the image above. They remained the tallest structures in Paris until the Eiffel Tower was completed in 1889.

The Last Judgment, Central Portal
Carlos Delgado; CC-BY-SA

The three magnificent portals on the western façade were built in the 13th century. A significant amount of their carvings and statuary were demolished during the French Revolution but have been carefully duplicated. The left portal portrays the life of the Virgin
Mary. The central portal features a vertical triptych of the Last Judgment, displaying the resurrection of the dead, the judgment, Christ, and the apostles, with Christ reigning in the highest panel. The portal of Saint-Anne on the right side includes the oldest, most beautiful, and last surviving sculpture from the 12th century, showing the Virgin Mary sitting on a throne holding the Christ child. A gallery of 28 statues of the kings of Israel occupies the space above the portals. The west side also features a stunning rose window measuring 32.8 ft. in diameter, with images of Adam and Eve on the outer rim. The Grande Galerie that connects the two towers is adorned with images of demons and birds that can only be seen from above.

Chimera,  Jawed Karim (2014)

There are also impressive portals on the north and south façades. The one on the north features a magnificent 13th-century statue of the Virgin Mary. She used to hold the Christ child in her arms, but it also was destroyed during the French Revolution and never replaced. On the cathedral’s south side lavis sculptures adorn the Saint-Etienne Portal portraying the life and deeds of the saint. And from the cathedral’s rear at its east end one can see the exterior of the apse and the graceful flying buttresses that support its walls.

Panageotean Graphics,
derivative work Lämpel

The original spire was constructed in the 13th century and placed on the cathedral’s roof above the transept and altar. By 1786 it had become so weakened that it had to be removed. A new spire built of oak covered with lead and weighing 750 tons replaced it during the 19th-century restoration by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. This one was surrounded by copper statues of the twelve apostles, with groups of 3 facing in each direction along with an animal symbolizing one of the four gospel writers: an angel for Matthew, a lion for Mark, a steer for Luke, and an eagle for John. The only statue that didn’t face outwards toward Paris was that of Thomas, the patron saint of architects; it faced the spire and had Viollet-le-Duc’s features. The spire was crowned by a rooster weather vane that contained a tiny piece from the Crown of Thorns and relics of Denis and Saint Genevieve, patron saints of Paris, placed there in 1935 by Archbishop Jean Verdier, to protect the congregation from lightning or other harm. This spire was destroyed in the April fire along with the roof itself, but by a stroke of luck the statues had been removed for restoration a few days before the fire. And miraculously, the rooster was found intact in the rubble left by the fire.

My post next month will take a closer look at the exquisite rose windows and other treasures of the cathedral. This month, since Refiner’s Fire officially publishes June 1, I’m giving away a copy—or for those who haven’t read all of the previous books of my American Patriot Series, your choice of any of the volumes! To enter the drawing, please leave a comment on this post answering the question below. And be sure to include your email address so I can contact you if you win. Because of the holiday, I’m extending the drawing through Tuesday. I’ll announce the winner in the comments here Wednesday morning, so be sure to check back!

QUESTION: What do you think of the ideas being proposed for the reconstruction of Notre Dame Cathedral? Should this historic building be restored to its former glory, or do you favor adding dramatic modern features as some experts advocate? Let’s hear your opinions and your reasons why!

~~~

J. M. Hochstetler is the daughter of Mennonite farmers and a lifelong student of history. She is also an author, editor, and publisher. Her American Patriot Series is the only comprehensive historical fiction series on the American Revolution. Book 6, Refiner’s Fire, releases in April 2019. Northkill, Book 1 of the Northkill Amish Series coauthored with Bob Hostetler, won Foreword Magazine’s 2014 Indie Book of the Year Bronze Award for historical fiction. Book 2, The Return, received the 2017 Interviews and Reviews Silver Award for Historical Fiction and was named one of Shelf Unbound’s 2018 Notable Indie Books. One Holy Night, a contemporary retelling of the Christmas story, was the Christian Small Publishers 2009 Book of the Year and a finalist in the Carol Award.

Notre Dame Cathedral Part 1 and Giveaway!

by J. M. Hochstetler

Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris, East Side

I’m sure that most of us have heard of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. It’s recently been in the news because of the destructive fire that started on the evening of April 15, 2019, while the cathedral was undergoing repairs to its roof. The building sustained serious damage, including the destruction of its wooden spire and most of the lead-covered wooden roof above its vaulted ceiling as well as some of the valuable relics it housed. Thankfully, however, preliminary reports are that many relics were saved and that the stone structure itself remains stable. Fund-raising efforts and plans for repairs are already underway.

Part of my June release, Refiner’s Fire, is set in Paris, so I thought I’d take a closer look at this iconic building and also offer a giveaway. We’re starting today with the history of the cathedral’s construction, and next month Part 2 will delve into some of the marvelous details and treasures Notre Dame contains.

Building a Medieval Cathedral

Nave of Notre Dame

Notre Dame means Our Lady, and the famous medieval cathedral is located in the center of Paris on the Île de la Cité, one of two remaining natural islands in the Seine River. An outstanding example of French Gothic architecture, it’s one of the most widely recognized structures in Paris. Around 12 million people visit annually making it the city’s most visited site.

It’s thought that a pre-Christian Gallo-Roman temple dedicated to Jupiter originally occupied the site. It was succeeded by four earlier churches, and then in 1160 the Bishop of Paris, Maurice de Sully, decided to build a cathedral in the new Gothic style. He had the Romanesque church on the site demolished and used its materials for his cathedral. Actual construction began between March 24 and April 25, 1163, with King Louis VII and Pope Alexander III present for the laying of the cornerstone.

North Rose Window

Building a medieval cathedral wasn’t a speedy or inexpensive process. It not only required a constant influx of money, but also massive amounts of materials, intensive labor, and highly skilled craftsmen, which becomes quite apparent when you look at the construction timeline. It was 1177 before the choir was completed, and the high altar wasn’t consecrated until 1182. The four sections of the nave behind the choir and its aisles up to the clerestories were finished in 1190, followed by the bases of the façade and the first traverses. The work was still in process when Heraclius of Caesarea called for the Third Crusade from the cathedral in 1185. At some point a decision was made to add transepts from the altar to bring in more light and to use four-part instead of six-part rib vaults to make the roofs stronger and allow for greater height. These were finally completed in 1208, with work still continuing on the nave. A large portion of the western façade was built by then, but it wasn’t complete until around the mid 1240s. And it took from 1225 to 1250 to construct the nave’s upper gallery, along with the two towers on the west façade.

Cross section of buttresses
by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc

The cathedral remained a work in progress for a very long time, however. During this same period the transepts were remodeled in the latest Rayonnant style and a gabled portal was added to the north transept, with a spectacular rose window placed above it. That gave impetus to modifying the southern transept in a similar design, and both portals also received a rich embellishment of sculpture. The south portal features scenes from the lives of St Stephen and several local saints, while the north portal features Christ’s infancy and the story of Theophilus.

An important innovation in the 13th century was the use of a structure called a flying buttress. A series of these were built on the outside of the choir during this period as well. Before these were developed the entire weight of the roof pressed down and outward on the walls and the abutments that supported them. Flying buttress distributed the weight from the vault’s ribs evenly to a series of counter-supports topped with stone pinnacles outside the building to give them greater strength and stability. This allowed the walls to be built higher and thinner with larger windows so that the interior felt light and airy, like a vision of heaven. It isn’t known for certain whether the first flying buttresses were used before the 13th century, but detailed laser scans of the structure seem to indicate that the buttresses were part of the original 12th century design. The cathedral’s first buttresses were replaced by larger and stronger ones in the 14th century as additions and alterations continued.

Later Alterations

Many more alterations were made to the cathedral during the Renaissance, when the Gothic style lost popularity. The interior pillars and walls were covered with tapestries, then in 1548 some of the statues were damaged in riots by Huguenots, who considered them idolatrous. The 17th and 18th centuries brought many more changes during the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV in line with the period’s more classical style. The sanctuary was rearranged and the choir largely rebuilt in marble. Many of the stained-glass windows that dated to the 12th and 13th centuries were taken out and replaced with white glass windows for more light. Can you imagine? What were they thinking? And in the second half of the 18th century, the spire was damaged by wind, so it was simply removed.

The Cult of Reason is celebrated at Notre-Dame
during the French Revolution, 1793

The worst damage happened during the French Revolution, however. The cathedral was desecrated and many of its religious relics and other treasures were defaced, destroyed, or stolen. In 1793 the building was dedicated to the Cult of Reason and later to the Cult of the Supreme Being. The Goddess of Liberty was installed on several altars in place of the Virgin Mary. Except for the statue of the Virgin on the cloister portal, all the large statues on its façade were destroyed. Twenty-eight statues of biblical kings at the west façade, believed to represent French kings, were beheaded. Happily many of these heads were found at a nearby excavation site in 1977 and can be seen at the Musée de Cluny. The building was eventually used as a warehouse for the storage of food and for other purposes.

Efforts at Restoration

The Cathedral at the Beginning of Restoration 1847
by Hippolyte Bayard

With the arrival of the new century, the cathedral’s situation finally began to improve. In July 1801 Napoleon Bonaparte signed an agreement to restore Notre Dame to the Roman Catholic Church, which formally took place in April 1802. Then on December 2, 1804, he and his wife Joséphine, were crowned emperor and empress of France there with Pope Pius VII officiating.

Much of Notre Dame remained in ruins, however, until 1831, when Victor Hugo’s novel Notre-Dame de Paris, published in English as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, became such a success that it restored public interest in the cathedral. In 1844 King Louis Philippe started a movement to restore it. A large team of architects and craftsmen worked from historical drawings and engravings to replace the original decorations or, where these were missing, to add embellishments consistent with the original style. They also replaced the original spire with one that was taller and more ornate. This restoration took twenty five years.

Modern Renovations

Cathedral Notre Dame de Paris, West View

Over the centuries, air pollution caused the cathedral’s stone exterior to deteriorate and discolor. And August 1944, while Paris was being liberated during WWII, some of the medieval glass was damaged and replaced with glass in modern abstract designs. It was becoming obvious that the building needed serious repairs. Finally in 1963 in time for the cathedral’s 800th anniversary, the façade was cleaned of its accumulation of soot and grime and the stone restored to its original color. But deterioration continued, and by the late 1980s, some of the gargoyles and turrets had fallen off or were dangerously loose. So another renovation began in 1991, during which much of the exterior was replaced, with authentic architectural elements being retained. The cathedral’s pipe organ was also upgraded to a computerized system, and the west face was cleaned and restored in time for millennium celebrations in December 1999.

For the building’s 850th anniversary in 2013, the four 19th-century bells from the northern towers were melted down and recast in bronze to simulate the sound of the cathedral’s 17th century bells. But after more than eight centuries, the building was showing signs of deterioration consistent with its age, which led to the most recent renovation. A €6 million renovation of the spire began in late 2018, during which the copper statues on its roof and other decorative elements had to be temporarily removed. By luck or providence, that happened just days before the fire broke out.

With the release of Book 6 of my American Patriot Series, Refiner’s Fire, I’m giving away a copy of Daughter of Liberty, or any volume of the series if the winner already has it —except Refiner’s Fire, which I’ll be giving away in June after its release. If the winner has all the books in the series so far, I’m happy to offer a copy of either Northkill or The Return from the Northkill Amish series. To enter, please leave a comment on this post answering the question below before the end of the day.

Notre Dame is a work of art in and of itself. What features of the cathedral do you find the most impressive and/or beautiful?

Be sure to include your email address in your comment so I can contact you if you win. I’ll announce the winner first thing tomorrow morning.

~~~

J. M. Hochstetler is the daughter of Mennonite farmers and a lifelong student of history. She is also an author, editor, and publisher. Her American Patriot Series is the only comprehensive historical fiction series on the American Revolution. Book 6, Refiner’s Fire, releases in April 2019. Northkill, Book 1 of the Northkill Amish Series coauthored with Bob Hostetler, won Foreword Magazine’s 2014 Indie Book of the Year Bronze Award for historical fiction. Book 2, The Return, received the 2017 Interviews and Reviews Silver Award for Historical Fiction and was named one of Shelf Unbound’s 2018 Notable Indie Books. One Holy Night, a contemporary retelling of the Christmas story, was the Christian Small Publishers 2009 Book of the Year and a finalist in the Carol Award.

~~~

Images

1. Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris: East side. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:GNU_Free_Documentation_License,_version_1.2

2.Nave of Notre-Dame de Paris, 22 June, 2014. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:GNU_Free_Documentation_License,_version_1.2

3. North Rose Window. Photo by Julie Anne Workman. License: CC-BY-SA 3.0

4. Cross-section of the double supporting arches and buttresses of the nave, drawn by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc as they would have appeared from 1220 to 1230. Public domain.

5. Cathedral Notre Dame de Paris, West view, Paris, France. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:GNU_Free_Documentation_License,_version_1.2