Notre Dame In Tears

April 15, 2019

Gone..."the forest" of oak timbers that framed the  east end of the 850-year-old cathedral, the spire, the conical lead-lined roof, and lord knows how much of the interior paintings, relics, statuary, stained glass, in a fire that brought Paris and much of the world to its knees in sorrow.

Notre Dame...is it necessary to add "of Paris"? There is only one. If you've seen it, felt its history drape over your shoulders as you entered its cavernous Gothic interior, smelled the pungent aroma of incense and burning wax candles, often visible in the haze of a technicolor shaft of daylight slanting through the nave, you never forget it.  And how, you wondered, is it possible to feel so close to an almighty spirit in a church that can hold 6000...and learn that what are called flying buttresses along its exterior walls were necessary architectural devices to keep them from collapsing from the weight above. Where to look? At the vaulted ceiling a mile overhead? At the enormous pillars the size of sequoia trees that shoulder the weight. At the fierce faced gargoyles? And be overcome by a sense of serenity in the midst of the thousands of others who are in the massive cocoon with you. The tops of the two towers on the west end are barely visible behind the transept and the spire in the photo above.

The Notre Dame east end on the Isle de la Cité...April in Paris 2007...grace and symmetry, gravitas and grandeur, artistic architecture with the dual pulls of gravity and the celestial.

The most iconic view of Notre Dame are the massive twin Gothic towers (pictured in photos at bottom) that front the west end facade on the Isle de la Cité, a small island on The Seine River in the middle of Paris. The the apse at the east end (above) behind the two towers with its conical roof, intricate carvings and graceful flying buttresses steal the show. So impressive is the intricate stone work, statuary, graceful curves coaxed from limestone by the chisels of artisans for over nearly 200 years (1163-1345). The top of one the twin Gothic bell towers is barely visible behind the spire.

Prayers echo through the cathedral, rise like the wafts of incense drifting heavenward toward the vaulted ceiling.

Towering marble columns...

Ancient wooden pews worn smooth by constant use over centuries, with small chapels at each side of the center nave.

The radiating spokes of the South Rose Stained Glass Window, installed around 1260, 12.9 meters in diameter, 84 panes of  glass. One of the best examples of European stained glass construction ...the smoke of incense that day is benign, yesterday's conflagration, a savage accident. What has survived?

Has she survived?

A place of solace and individual contemplation, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of votive candles burn day and night, each one symbolizing a prayer...reports are that many of the votive candles were still burning after the fire in the cathedral was extinguished...think about that.

Entering the cathedral, I immediately felt safe and removed from the hubub of the outside world. If I had x-ray vision, surely I could see Heaven hovering just over the vaulted ceiling.

Alone, if not with God then with your spiritual core, and in the arms of a universal embrace in which religious affiliation is second to affiliation with your fellow human beings. An overwhelming sense of tranquility settles over my conscious state, a sense of peace beyond understanding.

Notre Dame, considered to be one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture, is the jewel of Paris, rising majestically on the Isle de la Cité, the Seine River the aqueous ring in which it is set. Its innovative use of the rib vault and flying buttress, enormous radiating stained glass windows and carved limestone has the stature of one of the architectural wonders of the world. 

The iconic view of one of the most famous Gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages.

Notre Dame on the Isle de la Cité in the heart of Paris. The two 69 meter towers are visible behind the apse and 750-ton  295 foot-tall spire which sat over the transept and altar of the cathedral. Pont Saint Louis Bridge. The Palais de Justice, the French Supreme Court, is to the right.

Pont de la Tournelle with Notre Dame in background. 13 million visitors a year to this medieval cathedral...averaging 30,000 visitors a day!

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr. April in Paris 2007. https://ptatlarge.typepad.com/ptatlarge/2007/04/pt_in_pareean_a.html This sad news may bring more posts from Paris before this rueful day.

Unbearable loss...a test for Parisians and for all who have memories of "Our Lady".

Getty Images

 

Comments

[Katherine Jones]

Paul,

While this loss will be measured in tangible items and cost of repair, the intangible, emotional loss to our psyche is immeasurable.

Thank you for posting this wonderful piece and the photographs. As I mentioned I never got to go inside (always too late in the day, I guess) but you have revealed the beauty that was present.

Katherine

[Susaan Straus]

Nicely concise and your emotional response to both the church and the event is clear and strong. Great photos. The pigeon in the shot is amazing.

One question (not about writing): where is the forest of oak timbers? I couldn’t see anything but stone..

[Paul A. Tamburello, Jr. aka PT from Boston]

Parisians call the timbers that frame the cathedral "the forest" because it took that many trees to construct it.
Quote from CNN:
"The cathedral's wooden frame, which primarily consisted of oak, contains beams that date as far back as the first frame built for the cathedral. That frame featured trees cut down between 1160 and 1170, forming one of the oldest parts of the structure." https://www.cnn.com/style/article/nortre-dame-fire-oak-wood-trnd/index.html

[Paul A. Tamburello, Jr. aka PT from Boston]

Thank you, so many swirling emotions many of which come from deep places as old and mysteriously interconnected as those oak timbers that framed the dome.

[Paul A. Tamburello, Jr. aka PT from Boston]

Susaan,
The Cathedrale Notre Dame de Paris is often affectionately referred to as The Forest because of the many wooden beams that have been used in its construction, and each of the beams came from a different tree, many of which were around 300 to 400 years old. In fact this building is made up from 1,300 oak trees that represents approximately 21 hectares of forest.https://www.eutouring.com/facts_notre_dame_cathedral.html

[Jeffrey Piccoli]

Such a treasure, lost. Such history, deleted. Such a tragedy that didn't have to happen. The French government owned the building and the Catholic Church was responsible for its upkeep. Both failed this treasure which was deteriorating before our eyes. I will remember my visit to this magnificent Cathedral. This may have been an accident or worst, deliberate. We will never know for sure for I am sure the French government would never admit anything other than an accident.

[Ronnie]

Such a well written piece. Thank you for reflecting on this terrible loss for the world so eloquently. Hope you are well. I think of all I learned from you often.

[Nona Bock]

Heartfelt article PT. Photos are incredible.
Appreciated.
NB

[Paul Sinopoli]

Excellent piece on this unbelievable and sad event Paul.

Buona Pasqua!

[Paul A. Tamburello, Jr. aka PT from Boston]

Thank you, Paul,
The emotion I felt in my gut when I first saw the flames was as if I was watching my own home burn. Having visited the cathedral, I had sensory memories of the experience of first entering, its interior at once immense but welcoming, shafts of light penetrating from the rose colored stained glass windows, the smell of incense and thousands of tiny votive candles in the tiny altars along the length of both sides of the cathedral, and the sense, quite unexpected, of reverent awe. Time seemed to stand still. Men and women knelt in the small chapels, lit votive candles, and became lost in reverent prayer or, like me, let history, culture, distant memories of catechism and my first childlike experience of the mystery and teachings of Catholicism, the gospels, stations of the Cross, the crucifixion, well up in an unexpected river of images and a time when religion and the religious spirit seemed so much more innocent and pure.

I entered as a tourist, I left as an unintentional pilgrim, touched not just by the collective sense of what the cathedral represents but of what it has witnessed, Napoleon crowned there in 1803, Joan of Arc being beatified there, yes, but also the millions of visitors who’ve come not only to pray but to experience the mixture of the secular and the religious on a scale so huge that it can only be grasped in the gut, the heart, and later, much later, by the brain.
Buona Pasqua!
Paul

[Susan M. Bennett]

Paul- A wonderful piece, I think you captured the event and the emotion of it with your photos and descriptions. Those of us who have been there and people worldwide are mourning. So much lost but also saved due to heroic effort by firefighters, priests and others. Please do follow ups on this story. Isn’t it a strange thing that it happened before Easter. Let’s hope Notre Dame rises again to beauty, health and inspiration.

[Rebecca]

Thank you for the beautiful photos. You mention in the beginning paintings, relics and stained glass. It is my understanding that the art and relics were saved through the heroic effort of the firefighters and their chaplain and that the stained glass miraculously survived.
I didn't see this mentioned in the comments but the "forest" consisted of beams that were whole tree trunks.

[Paul A. Tamburello, Jr. aka PT from Boston]

Thank you for your comment, Rebecca,
I learn more every day about the fire. here are three stories i read in past days

Art and relics saved…
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-cross-still-stands-and-votives-remained-lit-signs-of-hope-out-of-the-notre-dame-cathedral-fire/ar-BBW00Y6

A Guide to Our Notre-Dame Fire Coverage from New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/19/world/europe/notre-dame-cathedral-fire.html

The beams cut from oak trees
https://www.eutouring.com/facts_notre_dame_cathedral.html

It is pretty miraculous that the whole cathedral didn’t collapse from the stress.

[Paul A. Tamburello, Jr. aka PT from Boston]

Vision for the future rebuild for Notre Dame Cathedral from an unexpected source
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/04/laser-scans-could-help-rebuild-notre-dame-cathedral/587230/?utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_term=2019-04-16T10:00:49&utm_content=edit-promo&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR0GnpClGcAOGYRkhCBF4una9jHXD1hCcGGLQbnN1T8LZCi_cL55KZyK1xk&fbclid=IwAR15nl8VeD6C5XV9CLz8_35l-iEW8QrKBqo94K3ehfIl5545aJg_AKIXXs4

[KBJones]

Looking back through my Notre Dame articles - not sure if I sent this one to you:https://www.theartnewspaper.com/comment/gothic-vaulting-saves-notre-dame-from-total-destruction