Twelve to fourteen million people visit Notre Dame Cathedral each year, making it the most visited historic site in Europe. Discover little-known details about this Gothic masterpiece.
The Notre Dame Cathedral, which welcomes between 12 and 14 million visitors annually, is the most visited historic landmark in Europe. A partial fire five years ago destroyed much of the Gothic cathedral, which is currently undergoing a laborious reconstruction. Here are some lesser-known facts about it:
1. One Time Wine Cellar
During the French Revolution in the 1790s, the church was looted and taken as public property. Attackers who were anti-clerical radicals tore down biblical statues from the front and beheaded them in the cathedral square, emulating the guillotine of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette.
Before Napoleon crowned himself emperor there in 1804, the cathedral served some functions during the following several years, including housing wine casks for the Revolutionary Army.
2. Saved by a Novel
Victor Hugo’s 1831 novel “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame” provided redemption. The enormously popular book caused Parisians to express their feelings about the cathedral’s condition of deterioration, which resulted in a significant restoration.
Architect Eugene Viollet-le-Duc renovated it between 1844 and 1865, including the spire that collapsed in the 2019 fire.
3. Modern Monsters
The terrifying guardian demons, which include a winged and horned figure holding his skull in his hands, that adorn the upper gallery of Notre Dame’s twin towers are relatively new additions.
Viollet-le-Duc is the creator of the chimaeras, which are simply decorative monsters, but the snarling gargoyles that spit rainwater from their open mouths were there from the beginning for drainage.
Hugo’s novel’s descriptions and the work of famed French caricaturist Honore Daumier served as inspiration for him. Most of the gargoyles and chimaeras made it through the 2019 fire.
4. The Protest Tower
Global news headlines included the picture of the burning spire collapsing to the earth. However, this was not the first time the 96-meter (315-foot) steeple made news. Communist activists destroyed the stairs that led to the spire and then hoisted a North Vietnamese flag on it in January 1969, during the Vietnam War.
It took a helicopter for the firefighters to take down the flag. A few years later, in October 1972, separatists from the northwest French region of Brittany flew another flag, which required the use of a helicopter once more.
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5. Two Thousand Oaks
The medieval “forest” beamed roof, which is largely from the early 1200s, was one of the largest losses in the 2019 fire. The government gave the order to cut down 2,000 oak trees to repair the roof and spire. Some locations selected mature oaks with tall, straight trunks using drones.
They were sliced, and before being employed in the restoration, they were allowed to dry for a period of 12 to 19 months. Hope you like it. Stay tuned with us on Thegeofacts.com for more amazing updates.
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