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.

~~~

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.