Notre Dame Cathedral, Bayeux, France

Notre Dame Cathedral in Bayeux, France, dates back to the Roman times, but the currently standing cathedral was built in the 13th century. It is an inspiring work of Norman Gothic architecture, which can be seen from the outside as well as the inside.

The rear of the building (or east side) is the most visible and most ornate. The famous flying buttresses of the Gothic area are easily visible and are decorated with statues!

Eastern end of Notre Dame Cathedral in Bayeux

Flying buttresses with statues

The walls have a wide assortment of gargoyles, some low enough almost to be reached by a tall person.

Gargoyle up close

Another scary guy

The Dean's Portal on the south transept includes a graphic depiction of Saint Thomas Becket's life and martyrdom. Sadly, time has worn away much detail, but the Channel crossing in the second line and the martyrdom at the end of the third are still quite clear and identifiable.

Dean's Portal

Becket's life and martyrdom right above the door

Inside is just as glorious, and includes more on Becket. The nave is light and airy.

Nave

The pulpit dates from 1786 by sculptor Jean-Louis Margin. The neo-classical stage is surmounted by a fantastic Baroque sounding board depicting a cloud with a globe and a religious figure bearing a cross on top.

Pulpit

Pulpit top with ornate wall behind

The main altar leads into the choir area. The ceiling is decorated with paintings of various saints and bishops of Bayeux.

Main altar

Above the main altar

The choir ceiling

Local bishops!

The choir stalls date from the 1500s and have the same joyful exuberance of the rest of the church.

Choir stalls

Surrounding the choir are several chapels, including one devoted to St. Michael the Archangel and another containing a relic of St. Therese of Lisieux.

St. Michael in action!

St. Therese's relic

St. Peter had a chapel too!

The south transept has a mural depicting rather explicitly Thomas Becket's martyrdom at Canterbury Cathedral.

Becket's martyrdom over a crucifixion scene and scenes from St. Nicholas's life

Back in the nave is a chapel dedicated to St. Philomena and another chapel that has an interesting but unidentified painting in it.

St. Philomena chapel

A bishop and a pregnant lady?

The Romanesque crypt is still accessible and contains some 15th century paintings on the columns designed to evoke the ancient times of the church.

Angel in the crypt

The stained glass in the cathedral is great as well, with many evocative windows.

Sample of the stained glass

Of course, Bayeux is more famous for the Tapestry, which will be the next post!

Inside of Notre-Dame, Paris

The inside of Notre-Dame is just as inspiring as the exterior. It was used for the coronations of kings and even Napoleon as emperor in 1804. The Revolutionaries tried to change it to a temple of reason but wound up using it to store food. It almost fell into ruin but Victor Hugo's Hunchback of Notre-Dame (published in 1831) restored local interest and pride in the church. In 1944, the Mass marking the liberation of Paris from Nazi Germany was celebrated here.

The interior is quite spacious. When we visited, they were displaying some of the bells along the nave.

View from the center up to the main altar

View from the center down to the entrance doors

One of the bells from upstairs

The main altar features a Pieta by Nicolas Coustou. The Pieta was commissioned by Louis XIII as thanksgiving for the birth of his son, who became Louis XIV in due time.

Main altar

The rose windows in the transepts date from the mid-1200s but have been extensively restored, i.e. very little of the glass is medieval. The South Rose Window features Christ surrounded by saints, virgins, and the apostles.

South Rose Window

Many other fine stained glass windows are found throughout the church.

Abstractions near the entrance

Hebrew Kings/Ancestors of Jesus?

Saints (the praying silhouette is a statue)

Many fine statues are also found throughout the church.

St. Joan of Arc

St. Therese

Moses?

Madonna and Child

The side chapels and walls of the church also have paintings. A famous series of paintings is the "Mays" paintings. Every year from 1630 to 1707, the Parisian goldsmiths' guild donated a new painting on the first of May (being Mary's month, after all). Thirteen are still on display, though I did not photograph any of them.

Icon of the Madonna and child

St. Thomas Aquinas teaching

A small display shows the history of the building of the cathedral. J particularly enjoyed the scale model of the work site.

Evolution of the Gothic style

J admires the construction process

The great chandelier from the crossing of the nave and transept was also down for viewing by the public.

The grand chandelier

The side chapel of St. Denis features another statue of the early French martyr.

Chapel of St. Denis

The sacraments are also available at the church. We saw a nice confessional and the ornate baptismal font.

Confessional

Baptismal font with John the Baptist on top

We did not explore the treasury, where the Crown of Thorns is kept. It gives us something to look forward to next time (in addition to visiting the roof and seeing the flying buttresses out back).

Outside of Notre-Dame, Paris

Notre-Dame is probably the second most famous landmark in Paris, behind the Eiffel Tower. The church's construction began in 1163 under Bishop Sully. It took nearly 200 years to finish. Built on the site of an old Roman temple, the cathedral is a Gothic masterpiece. The west front is the main entrance to the building and since we were there on a Saturday morning, the line was rather long to enter. That left us plenty of time to admire the exterior of the cathedral.

Notre-Dame from across the river

Us crossing the river, blissfully unaware of...

The long line!

The line to get in went from one side of the plaza, up some wooden bleachers in the plaza, down again into Notre-Dame by the far door (see if you can spot Mommy and L in the picture above). Over the entrance doors is the Kings' Gallery, featuring 28 statues of the Kings of Judah. During the Revolution, those brilliant intellectuals assumed these kings were French kings and destroyed most of the statues. They have all been replaced with 19th century copies. Some of the heads were saved and not discovered until 1977! They are in the Musee National du Moyen Age.

The Jewish Kings hold up the Medieval Masterpiece!

Tours of the Bell Tower are available but we did not take advantage since the children probably would not be patient enough. Visitors can see gargoyles and Quasimodo's bells up close from there, as well as having good views of the city.

We admired the three doorways leading into the cathedral. The leftmost as you face the front is the Portal of the Virgin, with Mary surrounded by saints and kings (these are the guys the Revolutionaries meant to knock over, whoops!) dating from the 13th century.

Portal of the Virgin

St. Denis featured after his martyrdom

Other saints by the Portal of the Virgin

The middle door is the Portal of the Last Judgment, featuring Christ enthroned in Heaven.

Portal of the Last Judgment

On the right-hand side is the Portal of St. Anne, the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Portal of St. Anne

Unfortunately, we did not walk around the back of the cathedral where the famous flying buttresses are visible. These architectural structures bear the weight of the ceiling and the walls, allowing for much larger windows in the walls.