On Monday, April 15, and Tuesday, April 16, the world watched in horror as the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris was transformed into a matchbox filled with fire. "Watching the spire on fire fall in real time is something that, as a medieval art historian, I could barely stomach," Dr. Emily Guerry Sr. Lecturer in Medieval European History at the University of Kent told an American news reporter.¹ We can all share Professor Guerry’s shock and anguish, but Notre Dame isn’t meaningful only for Medievalists. In fact, it is arguably not only a medieval edifice—it’s also a modern one. Built in the 13th century, Notre Dame was updated, renovated, restored, and vandalized throughout the ages that followed. It’s difficult to tell what proved more destructive: the loving modernizations it underwent early in the 18th century or the destruction wreaked upon it by French Revolutionaries during the … [Read more...] about ‘Dream in Sculpture, Dream in Rhyme:’ La Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris
Notre Dame
Notre Dame Burning
APRIL 15 AND 16, 2019 --- Notre Dame de Paris, the famous world heritage site, began burning early Monday evening, local time (noon EST), minutes after it closed to the public. As of late afternoon, EST, fire had poured into the empty space left when the iconic spire toppled into the nave of the cathedral, threatening the wooden frame, flying buttresses and famous rose windows. The Île de la Cité had been evacuated, but acrid black smoke, possibly due to the burning of the 250 tons of lead topping the spire, was visible and pouring soot and smoke on people standing safely across either side of the Seine watching the catastrophe unfold. The Cathedral’s construction was ordered by Maurice de Sully, the Bishop of Paris, in 1160, during the reign of Louis VII with construction beginning in 1163, completed in 1345. The flying buttresses invented to hold the eaves of the Cathedral together … [Read more...] about Notre Dame Burning