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HISTORY

2024 December 6, 7

Level: High

Notre-Dame de Paris

by Elizabeth Koroma

After a disastrous fire, this ancient site is now fully restored

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On April 15, 2019, the people of Paris, France, were shocked to see the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral in flames. The cathedral had stood for hundreds of years, but the fire nearly destroyed it. Hundreds of firefighters fought to save the building, but the fire still did extensive damage. Since then, the building has been closed for repairs, but this Sunday, it is scheduled to be open to the public once more.

  Notre-Dame took nearly two centuries to build, from 1163 to 1345, and even after its completion, new features continued to be added. Repairs to the iconic cathedral were done with painstaking accuracy, using methods from its original construction in the Middle Ages.

  Notre-Dame is an amazing example of Gothic architecture. The builders of Gothic cathedrals thought of their buildings as places where people go to meet with God, so they tried to make the buildings look like heaven. This means the cathedrals all have tall ceilings supported by columns, with large windows that are made of stained glass. As a result, the buildings are filled with colored light, which is intended to call to mind descriptions of heaven that say it has streets paved with gold. Images of cathedrals like Notre-Dame can convey part of their beauty and splendor, but they don’t compare with the experience of seeing them in person.