PepeToño- History and events of Notre Dame.

History of Notre Dame:

París was experiencing a period of great demographic expansion and economic dynamism and was affirming its status in the kingdom of France as:

• the political capital of the Capetian kings, Philip I in particular (1060-1108), Louis VI the Fat (1108-1137) and Louis VII the Young (1137-1180);
• an economic centre, as a craftsmen’s and merchant’s village developed on the right bank of the Seine around the Marché des Halles;
• a major intellectual and teaching centre: international influence of the cathedral school.

• demolition of the former Saint Stephen’s and construction of Notre-Dame;
• creation of a square, or parvis, which would serve as an intermediary space between the secular world and the sacred world: an area for catechism and learning through the portal sculptures;
• opening of the Rue Neuve-Notre-Dame: a vast, 6-metre wide street that would give a large population easy access to the cathedral; it would be stage to major processions over the centuries;
• reconstruction of the Bishop’s Palace and the Hôtel-Dieu.

1163:  Notre Dame.

Tradition has it that Notre-Dame’s first stone was laid in 1163 in the presence of Pope Alexander III.

The new building fell under the new art movement known as the gothic style or the ogival style. 

The first anonymous builder began with a double side aisle plan without a salient transept (the same plan used in the previous cathedral, Saint Stephen), a four story construction with tribunes, large, 32.5 metre sexpartite arches, predominantly horizontal lines, original archwork in the curved part of the deambulatory, alternating“strong” and “weak” pillars between the first and second aisles.

12th - Early 13th century:

Four major construction campaigns, led by four builders, were the highlight of this period:

1163-1182 : construction of the choir and its double deambulatory. The choir’s high altar was dedicated on 19 May 1182 by Henri de Château-Marçay, the Papal legat, assisted by the bishop Maurice de Sully. 

1182-1190 : construction of the last three bays in the nave, the side aisles and the tribunes. 

1190-1225 : edification of the façade courses and the first two bays in the nave, connection of the two bays to the upper façade and the Gallery of Kings. 

1225-1250 : upper gallery and two towers on the façade, modification and expansion of the upper windows and fitting out the nave side chapels between the flying buttresses’ abutments 

Recunstruction in the 17th and 18th century:

Refurbishment of the sanctuary and the choir, led by Robert de Cotte, to fulfil the vow of Louis XIII.

Restoration of the South Rose Window.

Replacement of the 12^th and 13^th centurystained glass windows with white windows in the mid-18^th century by the Le Vieil brothers.

Architectural work done by Soufflot:

• new sacristy;
• Refurbishment of the Central Portal.

During the Revolution:

• Disassembly of the 13^th century spire;
• Destruction of the 28 statues from the Gallery of Kings;
• Destruction of all the major portal statues except the
• Virgin from the Cloister portal trumeau.

19th Century:

New context in the early 19^th century: a new concordat is signed in July 1801 et Notre Dame is given back to the Roman Catholic church on 18 April 1802. In 1831.

The restoration project was given to two architects: Eugène Viollet-le-Duc and Jean-Baptiste Lassus. In 1857, after the death of Lassus, Viollet-le-Duc was left as the sole builder.

• reconstruction of the spire;
• restoration of the sculptures (around fifteen sculptors)
• construction of the new sacristy;
• installation of new windows by great master glassworkers.
• refurbishment of the central portal to the pre-Soufflot state;
• reconstitution of part of the Treasury and the furniture;
• wall paintings in the side chapels.