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Next to the Eiffel Tower and the Arc du Triomphe, Notre-Dame probably is the most easily recognizable building in Paris. Built on l'Ile de la Cite, where the city was founded, it took approximately 170 years to complete this stunning Gothic masterpiece. It is worth going inside to admire its spendid stained glass or "rose" windows and numerous works of art. It is also definitely worth going on the Towers tour; the first 255 steps take you to the "Gallery of chimeras", which was added during the course of the restoration program that began in 1845. The numerous gargoyles and funny-looking chimeras, sticking their tongues out at Paris below, make for really great pictures! The only problem is that a grid has been added, presumably to stop people from jumping down as in the movie "Amelie"?
Another 147 steps will take you to the bell tower, where you can see "Emmanuel", the biggest bell of Notre-Dame with its 28,000 pounds. Of course, it is impossible to go up there without thinking of Quasimodo, the hero of Victor Hugo's popular story "The Huntchback of Notre-Dame" (1831). The tour ends on top of the 69 m tall left tower, where you will have a great view of the spire and of the city all around.
The Cathedral is open every day of the week, and admission is free. It costs 5.50 Euros to go on the Towers tour (but you can use your Museum Pass if you have one). Might be a good idea to get there early if you can - the line-up stretches along the side of the Cathedral all day long, and people are often turned away at the end of the day. Leave a Comment
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Notre-Dame hits all records of tourist crowds. The crowd is even tighter than in Rome's San Pietro Basilica where there is more space for the visitors.
At Notre-Dame there are 14 millions visitors per year, an average of 40.000 every day. The tourists influx is non-stop from opening at 8 h to closing at 18.45 h (19.15 Saturdays and Sundays), all the year.
Visitors enter by the right door. There is lining up but in absence of security check the movement is not slow.
Inside, the tourist stream moves anti clockwise around the nave and choir towards the exit by the door on the left side of the frontage.
Notre-Dame is dark inside even when there is sunshine outside; be careful not to stumble on other tourists.
Don't halt to look more close at things; the flux should not be stopped. New visitors are lining up outside and pushing to get inside.
Even when there is a celebration, things are not really quiet but the nave is lighted up.
If you want to avoid these tourist crowds you are better on by a visit in the winter. I visited again Notre-Dame begin December and there was no lining up outside and relatively few persons inside.
To attend services, visitors can take any seat in the nave (or in the choir).
Hereafter the hours for the services:
Weekdays, Monday to Saturday noon
8h00 Mass in the choir
9h00 Mass in the choir, not in July and August.
12h00 Mass at the main altar
17h45 Vespers service broadcast live on KTO-Catholic Television
18h15 Mass at the main altar
Saturday:
17h45 First Sunday Vespers services
18h30 Sunday mass at the main altar
Sundays (all services held at the main altar):
8h30 Mass
9h30 Lauds service
10h00 Gregorian mass at the cathedral chapter
11h30 International mass
12h45 Mass
17h45 Vespers service
18h30 Mass usually by the archbishop, broadcast live. Directions: Métro: Cité; RER: Châtelet-Les Halles, Saint Michel-Notre Dame
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Notre-Dame is now viewed as one of the key defining examples of the style which was to become known as Ile-de-France Gothic, by the early nineteenth century few Parisians valued their medieval past very highly. Interest in the medieval building was largely rekindled by Victor Hugo's novel Notre-Dame de Paris. For twenty years, Viollet-le-Duc worked at Notre-Dame, adding the spire, consolidating the fabric and replacing missing or defaced sculptures.
Inside
Interior, the immediately striking feature, if you can ignore the noise and movement, is the dramatic contrast between the darkness of the nave and the light falling on the first clustered pillars of the choir, placing an emphasis on the special nature of the sanctuary. Nearly two-thirds glass, it is the end walls of the transepts that admit all this light as well as the two magnificent rose windows coloured in imperial purple. These, the vaulting, the soaring shafts reaching to the springs of the vaults, are all definite Gothic elements, yet, inside as well as outside, there remains a strong sense of Romanesque in the stout round pillars of the nave and the general sense of four-squareness.
Not to be missed !
Before leaving, do not forget to walk round to the public garden at the east end for a view of the flying buttresses supporting the choir, and then along the riverside under the south transept, where you can sit in springtime under the cherry blossom.
And in front of the cathedral, in the square separating Notre Dame from Haussmann's police Headquarters, is what appears to be and smells like the entrance to an underground toilet. In fact, it is a very well-displayed and interesting museum, the crypte archeologique, in which are revealed the remains of the church which predated the cathedral, as well as streets and houses of the Cite dating as far back as the Roman era.
On the pavement by the west door of Notre-Dame is a spot known as kilometre zero. This is where all of the main road distances in France are calculated. Leave a Comment
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This and the previous two tips cover some of the most iconic Paris sights. I don’t claim to have any original insights on any of them: there are, after all, now nearly 900 tips on the Eiffel Tower; about 600 on the Arc de Triomphe; and over 700 on Notre Dame! So why am I writing this? Well, as the title suggests ‘you just have to see…’. When you return home, your friends and family are sure to ask about these sights and to wish to see your photos. Fortunately, it’s possible to get acceptable photographs of all three fairly quickly if visiting time is short – the tour bus I’ve suggested above will take you past all of them within a fairly short trip. Plus the Louvre and a bit more.
If you can spare a little time though, Notre Dame can be much more than the imposing façade and the trademark two large towers. I rather like the view in the main photo, taken from the left bank of the Seine, just a little upstream, as this shows well the enormous flying buttresses and the general structure of the building. If you cross to the Ile de la Cité, you can get closer to the same perspective, near the apse of the church, and see more details (photo 2). Now head around to the entrance and go in. The sheer dimensions of the building (photo 3) still are amazing, just imagine what a knockout it was when finished in the 14th century! Equally impressive are the stained glass windows (photo 4): I won’t forget in a hurry the effect of the late winter afternoon light streaming nearly horizontally as coloured rays through clouds of incense on a Sunday afternoon on our first visit. Then head down to the left (from the front) rear of the building for a small display of how it was built (photo 5): it is staggering to contemplate how such a construction could be erected with relatively simple non-mechanised tools in the mediaeval period and easy to overlook what a dominant influence it must have been on the lives of the people involved. Directions: Métro: Cité; RER: Châtelet-Les Halles, Saint Michel-Notre Dame
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I have to admit that I simply loved all the decoration on the Notre-Dame. There are so many statues, decorations and of course the gargoyles. These creepy creative figures looking down from the rooftops were my absolute favourite. Most of the gargoyles of the Notre Dame have unfortunately weathered away over the centuries. So the ones you can see nowadays are the result of the restorations of Eugene Viollet-le-Duc (1814-1879), a prominent French architect of those times.
These gargoyles are actually not 'gargoyles' but are 'grotesques'. The word gargoyle derives from the Latin word Latin word "gurgulio", which literally means throat and also the sound water makes passing through the throat. So a gargoyle is a decorative spout, to convey water away from the sides of buildings. A 'grotesque' is a similar figure, but doesn't have the function to lead away water from these types of cathedrals. So I should call them the 'grotesques of the Notre-Dame' instead. Hahaha, but lucky me discovered that it is accepted to use the word 'gargoyle' for both type of creatures.
The best way to see the gargoyles of the Notre-Dame is to climb up to the cathedral towers. Alternatively you can do as I did, take a good zoom-lens, and zoom in on some of the many figures at the top of the Cathedral. Leave a Comment Phone: +33-1-42.34.56.10Directions: Métro: Cité; RER: Châtelet-Les Halles, Saint Michel-Notre DameWebsite: http://www.cathedraledeparis.com/ Other Contact: info@cathedraleDeParis.com
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I consider a climb up to Notre Dame's tower to be an essential thing to do each visit if only to see the fantastic gargoyles & chimera at the top, each with distinct personalities. The gargoyles are the animals jutting off the side of the cathedral acting as waterspouts while the chimera are the animal figures at the top. The views from up to are incredible - you can see as far as the Eiffel Tower & Sacre Coeur while the view overlooking the Latin Quarter is cool and shows the tangle of medieval streets.
There are close to 400 steps to the top. You'll get a breather once you reach the area of the chimera & then more steps to the bell tower where you climb the wooden steps, with the wooden hand railing smoothed by many centuries of hands running along it, to see the great Quasimodo bell. The attendant will be happy to take a photo of you with the bell.
Although entrance to the cathedral is free the climb up the towers is not. Click on the website below for more details. Just click on the Notre Dame picture and it'll take you to the official website.
Price: 5.50 euro
Photos: March 2001 Leave a Comment
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My favorite place in Paris, I visit Notre-Dame & its towers every single trip. The entrance into the cathedrale is free but it costs 5.50 euro to climb the towers. It's best to get there early in order to go up first as the lines get quite long very quickly.
Inside the cathedral it's quite dark but beautiful. Walk around the ambulatory to see the beautiful stained glass and the ribbed arches inside. The rose windows are especially beautiful. One has more red in it and the other has more blue to catch the northern & southern cool and warm light wafting through the windows.
If you like you may light candles for your family as I did mine. I'm not Catholic but my husband grew up in that church so I felt it was something I must do.
Outside is a t-shirts vendor planted in the midst of the Place du Parvis (and covering up the Kilometre Zero brass inlay, I'm pretty sure).
Horrors! Despite all my cautions that this is still a working cathedral, my friend Kristin took flash photos during Easter mass - and she's Catholic. She reasoned that because all the other tourists were doing it that it was okay to do.
Hours: 7:45am - 6:45pm
MASSES
Sunday
Saturday evening
6:30 (cantor)
Sunday
8:30 am
10:00 am (gregorian chant)
11:30 am (choir)
12:45 am (cantor)
6:30 pm (choir)
Weekdays
8:00, 9:00, 12:00 am
6:15 pm (cantor)
Photos: March 2001 & Feb 2006 Leave a Comment
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What is there to say about Notre Dame that hasn't been said before? Nothing really, except that no visit to Paris is complete without paying the great lady a visit. Join the crowds and do just that - the architecture is sublime, the glass magnificent, the view from the towers worth the climb, the sense of history palpable. A visit here is an unforgettable experience and such is the presence of this wonderful building that every glimpse you get of it as you move around the city will give you a small thrill of recognition.
Remember that this is a place of worship, the city's cathedral. There are several masses daily and visitors' movements around the interior are restricted at those times.
leyle
Warning from Lulu : when leyle says "climb" she means on foot! I hadn't realised that until I was already launched on the climb, on a staircase less than one meter wide and a couple of hundred people coming up behind me - no way to change my mind! Leave a Comment
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I was disappointed in the Notre Dame, but there was one exception, and those were the glass stained windows. These are really stunning, and enormous! Especially the rose windows! I just couldn't get enough of looking at them. The colour, the motives and probably as well the amazing size of the windows just took my breath away. There are three of these rose windows and without a doubt they will mesmerise you as well. These are still the original windows, but unfortunately all the other glass stained windows were destroyed in the 18th century. Having said that, these newer windows are stunning as well, as you can see for example in the first photo.
In photos number two and four you can see the North rose window, which dates back to 1250. This glass stained window is dedicated to the Old Testament and has mainly violet shades of colour. In the middle you can see the Virgin Mary carrying her child, and around her are no less then eighty figures in three layers of circles. The first circle shows the sixteen prophets, and in the outer two you can see kings, judges and high priests. Leave a Comment Phone: +33-1-42.34.56.10Directions: Métro: Cité; RER: Châtelet-Les Halles, Saint Michel-Notre DameWebsite: http://www.cathedraledeparis.com/ Other Contact: info@cathedraleDeParis.com
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Before saying the Notre-Dame goodbye you might want to take a look around on the parvis in front of the cathedral. A "parvis" is an enclosed area or court in front of a building, particularly a building such as a cathedral or church. And on the parvis of the Notre Dame you have an amazing view of the Notre Dame itself. But there is a bit more then just this. You also might notice this huge statue of Charles the Great / Charlemagne. The statue was created in 1886 by Louis and Charles Rochet.
Also on the Paris you can see stone in the pavement called "Point Zéro". This point is considered as the exact centre of Paris and all locations in France are geographically measured to this point. I have to admit I didn't see the stone as the crowds surrounding this part of the square was too large for me to really bother.
Okay, time to move on and stretch the legs a bit more. I am almost done with my virtual walk through Paris, but there are two more places that I would like to share with you first..... Leave a Comment Directions: Métro: Cité; RER: Châtelet-Les Halles, Saint Michel-Notre Dame
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