Paris 1.

Notre Dame de Paris.

(c) Patricia Barry 2007

The cathedral

Notre Dame is more than 8oo years old. The construction of the cathedral began in 1163. It took more than 200 years to build. Notre Dame de Paris is located on the le de la Cit, one of the little islands in the middle of the river Seine. Two thousand years ago, all of Paris was located on this little island.

(c) Patricia Barry 2007

Notre Dame

Its hard to believe that this beautiful building was in such a bad state in the 19th century, people wanted to demolish it. It was the great writer,Victor Hugo, who helped to save it through his famous book: The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

(c) Patricia Barry 2007

Near Notre Dame de Paris

The bridge near Notre Dame is called Le Pont Neuf or New Bridge. Its a funny name as its the oldest bridge in Paris! It was the first bridge to be constructed of stone.

(c) Patricia Barry 2007

Notre Dame

This is the faade of the cathedral. In front of the cathedral is the square now pedestrianised. There are three huge entry doors at the front. Around them, there are statues of saints and bible characters. The round stained glass window is called une rosace or rose window.
(c) Patricia Barry 2007

Outside Notre Dame

There are always plenty of people around Notre Dame Theres always a long queue to climb the tower There are visitors and tourists who want to go to Mass or pray And there are the Parisians who live and work in the area.

(c) Patricia Barry 2007

Outside the cathedral

Here is a close up of the rose window, with the statues.

(c) Patricia Barry 2007

Notre Dame the square

This plaque marks the centre of Paris. All the distances in France are measured from this spot.

(c) Patricia Barry 2007

The square

In the square, you can find plaques which commemorate those heros who fought for the resistance during World War II There were fierce fights in front of Notre Dame at the Liberation of Paris.
(c) Patricia Barry 2007

The interior

This is the most famous rose window which dates from the 13th century. Its stained glass images tell bible stories from the Old Testament.

(c) Patricia Barry 2007

Behind the cathedral

Behind the cathedral, there is a quiet park area. The architecture at the back of the cathedral is quite different from that of the front. Delicate flying buttresses support the building.
(c) Patricia Barry 2007

Lile de France

This is a view of the cathedral seen from the boulevard on the other side of the river Seine.

(c) Patricia Barry 2007

The roof of the cathedral

Even the roof has decoration! The apostles welcome those who climb the tower to the roof.

(c) Patricia Barry 2007

Notre Dame les gargouilles 1.

Climb the tower to see the famous gargoyles. This one keeps watch over le quartier Latin

(c) Patricia Barry 2007

Gargouille 2

The gargoyles are fantasy creatures

(c) Patricia Barry 2007

Gargouille 3

This hungry cat person is devouring a dog!

(c) Patricia Barry 2007

Notre Dame

The famous bell which weighs 400 tonnes It dates from the 17th century It needed 25 men to ring this bell in the past! Nowadays, the bell is rung electronically. It rings on Sundays for High Mass.

(c) Patricia Barry 2007