We seem to be conditioned these days to hearing bad news so often, that we come to expect it. Sometimes, it feels like almost all of the news headlines are bleak and rob us of hope. It almost feels like we should expect the news cycle to only grow worse and worse.
There are, however, some notable exceptions. And this weekend, there is a news story that proves this can be the case.
Notre Dame Cathedral will reopen to the public this weekend. That is indeed a bit of good news in an otherwise long news cycle filled with news which most of us often want to shrink away from.
Of course, this is happening because the cathedral itself was the focal point of very bad news some years ago. Back in April of 2019, the cathedral, which dates back over 850 years, caught fire. The spire was destroyed, and much of the rest of the church was seriously damaged. In fact, there was some talk that it might never fully recover.
This proved to be the incident which finally cemented my resolve to bring my son to Paris to see the city, finally. Our family has a strong French heritage, and I had always wanted to bring him to see Paris. But after that, I felt like it was a reminder, or a warning, that you never know what could happen, and to try and capitalize on some opportunities like that while they are available. Months later, we took our first trip to Paris together, and got to see the "City of Light." That included the Notre Dame Cathedral, only from the outside, of course.
It seemed fitting to add some stuff that I wrote about the Notre Dame Cathedral over a decade ago, years before the fire. I wrote this when it was celebrating 850 years, which is rather extraordinary. I had known that Notre Dame had a unique history, and was told repeatedly by my father that it was the point from which all other distances in France were measured ("kilometer zero"). It was from this cathedral that the third crusade was launched, many kings were crowned, and where Napoleon famously crowned himself Emperor of France. During the Revolution, it was renamed the "Temple of Reason," since religion was out of vogue. This cathedral truly has been the center of Paris, and thus in many respects of France, for the better part of a millennium now. I am personally very pleased to see that it will reopen to the public again, and that it has apparently been restored to it's full glory, or almost. Indeed, this is a world treasure, and it would have been tragic had it been taken from the world as such.
Below is the link to a blog entry which I published here in my blog well over a decade ago, and it seemed fitting also to add the information which I then added:
Notre Dame Cathedral: Celebrating 850 Years as the Center of Paris
first published on January 30, 2013:
https://charbor74.blogspot.com/2013/01/notre-dame-cathedral-in-paris.html
It stands today, dominating the Ile de la Cite, the small island in the center of the city that Notre Dame has symbolized in so many ways now for many a century. The cathedral seems now to be a quaint reminder of more noble and human times, yet it is far more than that. You probably have seen images of it, hundreds of images of it, standing above the Seine that flows by. The Notre Dame cathedral of Paris has also continued to stand as history flowed by like the waters of the Seine, and it still stands today as both witness and testament to that past. That is a noteworthy statement, given the history of the place, which included the coronation of kings and emperors, and which saw revolutions, particularly the big one in the late years of the 18th century that turned rather hostile towards religion in general, and Catholicism in particular, and finally, two world wars. The original bells were taken down and melted to make cannon balls during the French revolution, but the cathedral itself still stood, despite being pillaged and damaged. It had also been damaged during a riot by Huguenots back in 1548. It remained standing while foreign troops fought, and even marched triumphantly, on the streets of Paris, and it was even occupied by combatants during the days right before the liberation of Paris, in 1944. The bells of the cathedral sounded to mark the liberation of Paris. Notre Dame survived a plan by the Hitler and the Nazis to destroy it (and the rest of Paris, for that matter), and it survived that almost by sheer luck only when it dawned on the man assigned to carry out that task, last minute, that Hitler was a nut case, and that such orders should not be followed through.
Since then, it held the Reqiem Mass for both President Charles De Gaulle in 1970, and François Mitterand in 1996.
Through it all, Notre Dame remained intact. It has been changed by many of these events in history, yet it still stands today.
Notre Dame is significant for a long list of reasons - too numerous for any poor efforts on my part to accurately portray here. However, some things that make it stand out should be noted:
- Notre Dame of Paris was, and still is, considered an architectural wonder in the Gothic style. It had wonderful, truly beautiful and inspiring stained glass windows not only in order to improve the lighting, but to add a definite beauty and, yes, even an air of divinity within it's walls. The outer walls have numerous, famous gargoyles that have become the stuff of legend. Also, the flying buttresses that support the cathedral were the first of it's kind, and thus, a novelty.
- It was here that the third crusade was launched, when Hereclius of Caeseria called for it in 1185. It was here that numerous kings of France were coronated, including Henry VI, a monarch of England, in 1431, and it was here also that Napoleon crowned himself emperor of France in 1804. Jeanne d'Arc (Joan of Arc) was declared a saint here.
- The cathedral is home to numerous holy relics, including some of the most famous and legendary ones, the "Crown of Thorns", as well as one of the "Holy Nails" and a fragment of the wood from the "True Cross" that Jesus was crucified upon. The "Crown of Thorns" is displayed on the first Friday of each month, as well as all Fridays during Lent. Lent services within the cathedral are very famous.
- It is here that Victor Hugo's legendary 1831 novel, "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", was supposed to take place. The fictional Quasimodo loved tolling the bells of the cathedral. Hugo's novel helped many readers to understand the architectural significance of the cathedral.
- Medieval manuscripts have proven that music that was played here proved influential throughout all the rest of Europe. The acoustics within the interior of the cathedral make it very accommodating for music.
- The cathedral stands on the island that is the oldest part of the city, dating back to the days when the city was known by it's Roman name of Lutetia, later to be renamed Lutèce. It might have sank to the Seine, if not for a renovation program by architect Eugene Viollet-le-Duc, in the latter half of the nineteenth century.
- Notre Dame is considered not only the center of Paris, but of all France - literally and figuratively! My father, who is French, has repeatedly told me (and anyone else who will listen) that it is from here that all the distances from the capital city to other cities and regions in France are measured. Indeed, the square in front of the cathedral is known as "kilometre zero". It was here also that the first Norse settlers camped.
- The cornerstone of the cathedral was laid back in 1163, but the cathedral itself was not completed until 1345 - nearly two centuries later!
Such an incredible, and extensive, history!
It was a strong symbol of Christian faith, but has lost a strong measure of that significance over the centuries. In 1793, it hosted the atheistic "Festival of Reason", during the days of the French Revolution. More recently, as there was a general turning away from the total dominance that the Christian faith had held over France, and the rest of the Western world, for centuries, it still remained significant and symbolic, proving that it has transcended it's strictly religious roots.
Now, to mark the occasion of the 850th anniversary, the cathedral is getting new bells, in the most recent efforts to improve the quality of the cathedral, and restore some of the past glory that was lost when the bells were taken from it.
To conclude, here is a quoted part of Christian Fraser's great article on the subject, "Paris Notre Dame cathedral turns 850 years". I think this is as good a way to end this piece as anything that I could come up with.
"The mighty cathedral is neither the tallest, oldest nor biggest in the world, but it can rightly claim to be the best-known.
For centuries it has witnessed the greatest events in French history: 80 kings, two emperors, five republics - and two world wars.
Its famous gargoyles, there to guard against the evil spirits, have faced both glory and tragedy over the centuries."
This is the only picture that I know of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris with me pictured along with it from the 20th century. It was taken a while ago, as evidenced by my hair. I believe that this was taken back in 1998, but it may also have been in 2000. Sitting on a bridge near the Île de la Cité, with the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris in the background — in Paris, France.
Below are some pictures of Notre Dame Cathedral which I took following the horrible fire in April of 2019:
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