Notre Dame Cathedral - one of the most famous temples in the world, an outstanding architectural monument, sung by poets, writers, artists.

Slim weight cathedral on Ile de la Cité is visible from afar. When the Roman Emperor Constantine at the beginning of the IV century declared Christianity is on the former site of a pagan temple there was the church of St. Stephen. In the middle of the XII century, it is no longer housed the faithful. When King Louis VII Young and Bishop Maurice de Sully was decided to build a grand cathedral.

The first stone was laid in 1163 in the presence of Pope Alexander III. This was the phenomenon of the new Europe, aspiring to heaven architectural styles - Gothic, and the cathedral was his incarnation.

Construction lasted from 1163 by 1345. First built choir and nave, the facade began in 1208, 1250 completed two huge tower facade. With the growth of the cathedral revealed the dangerous tension in the supporting walls, in the XIV century around the nave and choir built huge flying buttresses that give the building an unusual appearance. Alterations lasted for centuries: in 1699 on the orders of Louis XIV was rebuilt the choir, rood-screen is replaced by a lace, forged iron.

Raised in the heart of Paris, the cathedral was huge: 128 meters in length, 48 in width. It accommodates 9000 worshipers. The towers rise up to a height of 69 meters, the spire - 90 meters. The building is decorated with huge windows, rose 13 meters in diameter. Portals richly decorated with sculptures. Central, on the western facade, depicts the Last Judgment: the dead rise from their graves, the archangel Michael weighing souls, Satan tries to stop him. On the west side of the same - a portal dedicated to the Virgin Mary, her death and Assumption. The compositions of the south side is dedicated to St. Stephen, the north - the childhood of Jesus. Consider them for hours. The cathedral is also known as chimeras and gargoyles, gazed down upon Paris. In gargoyles prosaic purpose: they serve as drains for rain water.

The interior is famous for its stained-glass windows with scenes from the life of Saint Genevieve, patron saint of Paris. In the chapel of the nave - thirteen magnificent paintings XVII-XVIII centuries, dedicated Acts. The statue of the Madonna and Child in the south-eastern part of the transept - the middle of the XIV century.

In the XVI century this splendor crushing the Huguenots, the French Revolution in the XVIII century Cathedral turned plundered the temple of Reason and then a warehouse. The newly consecrated the church in 1802, Napoleon was crowned here. However, the building dilapidated, it came to its demolition. In 1831, Victor Hugo published the novel "Notre Dame de Paris", which attracted everyone's attention to the fate of the temple. It pulled tourists in 1845, the restoration of the cathedral.

Notre Dame de Paris - France, the story itself: here opens first French parliament, married and crowned kings rehabilitated Joan of Arc. On the day of liberation then prayed de Gaulle, here is the great French nation accompanied on his last journey. Since the end of the XII century over Paris rushes bells of the cathedral - in the happy, sad, and the most ordinary days.