Notre Dame Cathedral Paris France 1940's

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Notre Dame de Paris, referred to as simply Notre-Dame, is a medieval Cathedral located at Île de la Cité (on an island in the famous Seine River), in the 4th arrondissement of Paris France. My Grandfather Ernest photographed this beautiful cathedral in the 1940s on a trip from London England to Paris France. The cathedral was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, is conceded to be the best and finest French Gothic architecture and a style of earlier Romanesque. Construction started in 1163 under Bishop Maurice de Sully, the foundation stone was laid by Pope Alexander III, the high altar was consecrated in 1189 and was largely completed by 1260. In the French Revolution in 1790’s Notre-Dame suffered extensive desecration and in the 19th century, hosted the coronation of Napoleon and many funerals of the French Republic’s presidents. The cathedral was built during the reign of King Louis VII over the course of 200 years and was finally completed in 1345.

As the construction began and proceeded the cathedral architects seeing the thinner walls that were popular in Gothic styles started to have stress fractures as the wall is pushed outwards, in effect the architects built supports around the outside walls and later additions continued to the pattern and this created the first flying buttress in the world.

The French people trusted Joan of Arc, she experienced visions from God went on to assist the French in battles against the English soldiers and won many against the English. The Pope Pius X beatified Joan of Arc in 1909. She was a big fan of the royals as she played a part in the crowning of Charles VII. Many accused her of heresy and she was killed later by Burundians and burned at the state. It was not until 1456 that her name was cleared and she was known as an innocent martyr.

This cathedral is visited by more than 13 million people a year and that works out to be around 35,000 a day to see this wonderful French Gothic Cathedral. There is a tiny plate, on the floor entrance engraved “point zéro des routes de France” (Point Zero of French Roads) and indicates where all distances to and from Paris are measured. The the roof measures 127 meters (length) by 48 meters (width and the main nave is 43 meters high under the roof and back in the 12th century roof structures were made of wood and the wood timber frame was made of more than 1300 trees, with each beam being made from one tree.

Priceless treasure halls the walls and floors of the cathedral, one treasure is the Holy Crown worn by Christ and all of the Holy Relics can be view the first Friday of the month during dedicated worship ceremonies, as well as for Lent and Good Fridays.

On 15th April 2019, the cathedral caught on fire at 18:18, the fire broke out beneath the roof. The smoke detectors immediately signaled the fire to the cathedral employee, who didn’t notify the fire brigade but sent a guard to investigate, instead of going to correct attic where the fire started, he went to the wrong location and reported no fire. After 15-plus minutes of discovering the error, he was told to go to correct location having to climb 300 steps and the fire as well advanced. The alarm system was not designed to notify the fire brigade, they were summoned at 18:51 and more than half an hour after the fire alarm had begun sounding about the fire, the firefighters arrived in less than ten minutes.

What Notre Dame Cathedral Treasures Survived the Fire on April 15th 2019.

The tragic fire on April 15th, 2019 that lasted 15 hours from the 15/16 April 2019 obliterated the roof and caused the spire to collapse. Many of the art and religious relics were moved to safety, but others suffered smoke damage and some exterior art was damaged or destroyed. The cathedral altar, two pipe organs, and three 13th-century rose windows suffered no damage. The French Minister of Culture Franck Riester confirmed that the most precious relics had been saved, including the crown of thorns that Jesus is said to have worn and the tunic of Saint Louis, 12 apostles, and four evangelists including the beautiful rose window and the bells and organ. The French culture minister projected the cost of the reconstruction of Notre Dame Cathedral to be $865 million. The restoration has raised 833 million euros ( around 997 Million dollars) from private donors and businesses. The cathedral should be re-opened in 2024.

This photo is one of my favorites that my late grandfather photographed. When I had my darkroom I printed the old vintage negative on my enlarger, using 16x20 inch Ilford fiber photography paper, then matted and framed this amazing photo and hung it on our wall in our house.

My late Grandfather Ernest took this photograph in the 1940’s.

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