Paris. Grant Allen's Historical Guides
- -
- 100%
- +
Stand by the right-hand corner of the bridge before crossing it. In front is the Île de la Cité. The square, dome-crowned building opposite you to the left is the modern Tribunal de Commerce; beyond it leftward lie the Marché-aux-Fleurs and the long line of the Hôtel-Dieu, above which rise the towers and spire of Notre-Dame. In front, to the right, the vast block of buildings broken by towers forms part of the Palais de Justice, the ancient Palace of the French kings, begun by Hugues Capet. The square tower to the left in this block is the Tour de l’Horloge. Next, to the right, come the two round towers of the Conciergerie, known respectively as the Tour de César and the Tour de Montgomery. The one beyond them, with battlements, is the Tour d’Argent. It was in the Conciergerie that Marie Antoinette, Robespierre, and many other victims of the Revolution were imprisoned.
These mediæval towers, much altered and modernized, are now almost all that remains of the old Palace, which, till after the reign of Louis IX (St. Louis), formed the residence of the Kings of France. Charles VII gave it in 1431 to the Parlement or Supreme Court. Ruined by fires and rebuilding, it now consists for the most part of masses of irregular recent edifices. The main modern façade fronts the Boulevard du Palais.
Cross the bridge. The Tour de l’Horloge on your right, at the corner of the Boulevard du Palais, contains the oldest public clock in France (1370). The figures of Justice and Piety by its side were originally designed by Germain Pilon, but are now replaced by copies. Walk round the Palais by the quay along the north branch of the Seine till you come to the Rue de Harlay. Turn there to your left, towards the handsome and imposing modern façade of this side of the Palais de Justice. The interior is unworthy a visit. The Rue de Harlay forms the westernmost end of the original Île de la Cité. The prow-shaped extremity of the modern island has been artificially produced by embanking the sites of two or three minor islets. The Place Dauphine, which occupies the greater part of this modern extension, was built in 1608; it still affords a characteristic example of the domestic Paris of the period before Baron Haussmann. Continue along the quay as far as the Pont-Neuf, so as to gain an idea of the extent of the Île de la Cité in this direction. The centre of the Pont-Neuf is occupied by an equestrian statue of Henri IV, first of the Bourbon kings. Its predecessor was erected in 1635, and was destroyed to make cannon during the great Revolution. Louis XVIII re-erected it. From this point you can gain a clear idea of the two branches of the Seine as they unite at the lower end of the Île de la Cité. To your right, looking westward, you also obtain a fine view of the Colonnade of the Old Louvre, with the southwestern gallery, and the more modern buildings of the Museum behind it. (See later.)
Now, walk along the southern quay of the island, round the remainder of the Palais de Justice, as far as the Boulevard du Palais. There turn to your left, and go in at the first door of the Palace on the left (undeterred by sentries) into the court of the Sainte Chapelle, the only important relic now remaining of the home of Saint Louis. You may safely neglect the remainder of the building.
[The thirteenth century (age of the Crusades) was a period of profound religious enthusiasm throughout Europe. Conspicuous among its devout soldiers was Louis IX, afterwards canonized as St. Louis. The saintly king purchased from Baldwin, Emperor of Constantinople, the veritable Crown of Thorns, and a fragment of the True Cross– paying for these relics an immense sum of money. Having become possessed of such invaluable and sacred objects, Louis desired to have them housed with suitable magnificence. He therefore entrusted one Pierre de Montereau with the task of building a splendid chapel (within the precincts of his palace), begun in 1245, and finished three years later, immediately after which the king set out on his Crusade. The monument thus breathes throughout the ecstatic piety of the mystic king; it was consecrated in 1248, in the name of the Holy Crown and the Holy Cross, by Eudes de Châteauroux, Bishop of Tusculum and papal legate.
Three things should be noted about the Sainte Chapelle. (1) It is a chapel, not a church; therefore it consists (practically) of a choir alone, without nave or transepts. (2) It is the domestic Chapel of the Royal Palace. (3) It is, above all things, the Shrine of the Crown of Thorns. These three points must be constantly borne in mind in examining the building.
Erected later than Notre-Dame, it represents the pointed style of the middle of the thirteenth century, and is singularly pure and uniform throughout. Secularized at the Revolution, it fell somewhat into decay; but was judiciously restored by Viollet-le-Duc and others. The “Messe Rouge,” or “Messe du St. Esprit,” is still celebrated here once yearly, on the re-opening of the courts after the autumn vacation, but no other religious services take place in the building. The Crown of Thorns and the piece of the True Cross are now preserved in the Treasury at Notre-Dame.
Open daily, free, except Mondays, 11 to 4 or 5. Choose a very bright day to visit it.]
Examine the exterior in detail from the court on the south side. More even than most Gothic buildings, the Sainte Chapelle is supported entirely by its massive piers, the wall being merely used for enclosure, and consisting for the most part of lofty windows. As in most French Gothic buildings, the choir terminates in a round apse, whereas English cathedrals have usually a square end. The beautiful light flèche or spire in the centre has been restored. Observe the graceful leaden angel, holding a cross, on the summit of the chevet or round apse. To see the façade, stand well back opposite it, when you can observe that the chapel is built in four main stories, – those, namely, of the Lower Church or crypt, of the Upper Church, of the great rose window (with later flamboyant tracery), and of the gable-end, partially masked by an open parapet studded with the royal fleurs-de-lis of France. The Crown of Thorns surrounds the two pinnacles which flank the fourth story.
The chapel consists of a lower and an upper church. The Lower Church is a mere crypt, which was employed for the servants of the royal family. Its portal has in its tympanum (or triangular space in the summit of the arch) the Coronation of the Virgin, and on its centre pillar a good figure of the Madonna and Child. Enter the Lower Church. It is low, and has pillars supporting the floor above. In the polychromatic decoration of the walls and pillars, notice the frequent repetition of the royal lilies of France, combined with the three castles of Castille, in honour of Blanche of Castille, the mother of St. Louis.
Mount to **the Upper Chapel (or Sainte Chapelle proper) by the small spiral staircase in the corner. This soaring pile was the oratory where the royal family and court attended service; its gorgeousness bespeaks its origin and nature. It glows like a jewel. First go out of the door and examine the exterior and doorway of the chapel. Its platform was directly approached in early times from the Palace. The centre pillar bears a fine figure of Christ. In the tympanum (as over the principal doorway of almost every important church in Paris and the district) is a relief of the Last Judgment. Below stands St. Michael with his scales, weighing the souls; on either side is depicted the Resurrection, with the Angels of the Last Trump. Above, in the second tier, is Christ, holding up His hands with the marks of the nails, as a sign of mercy to the redeemed: to R and L of Him angels display the Crown of Thorns and the True Cross, to contain which sacred relics the chapel was built. Extreme L kneels the Blessed Virgin; extreme R, Sainte Geneviève. This scene of the Last Judgment was adapted with a few alterations from that above the central west door of Notre-Dame, the Crown of Thorns in particular being here significantly substituted for the three nails and spear. The small lozenge reliefs to R and L of the portal are also interesting. Those to the L represent in a very naïve manner God the Father creating the world, sun and moon, light, plants, animals, man, etc. Those to the R give the story of Genesis, Cain and Abel, the Flood, the Ark, Noah’s Sacrifice, Noah’s Vine, etc. the subjects of all which the visitor can easily recognise, and is strongly recommended to identify for himself.
The interior consists almost entirely of large and lofty windows, with magnificent stained glass, in large part ancient. The piers which divide the windows and alone support the graceful vault of the roof, are provided with statues of the twelve apostles, a few of them original. Each bears his well-known symbol. Spell them out if possible. Beneath the windows, in the quatrefoils of the arcade, are enamelled glass mosaics representing the martyrdoms of the saints – followers of Christ, each wearing his own crown of thorns: a pretty conceit wholly in accord with St. Louis’s ecstatic type of piety. Conspicuous among them are St. Denis carrying his head, St. Sebastian pierced with arrows, St. Stephen stoned, St. Lawrence on his gridiron, etc. Examine and identify each separately. The apse (formerly separated from the body of the building by a rood-screen, now destroyed) contains the vacant base of the high altar, behind which stands an arcaded tabernacle, now empty, in whose shrine were once preserved the Crown of Thorns, the fragment of the True Cross, and other relics. Amongst them in later times was included the skull of St. Louis himself in a golden reliquary. Two angels at the summit of the large centre arch of the arcade bear a representation of the Crown of Thorns in their hands. Above the tabernacle rises a canopy or baldacchino, approached by two spiral staircases; from its platform St. Louis and his successors, the kings of France, were in the habit of exhibiting with their own hands the actual relics themselves once a year to the faithful. The golden reliquary in which the sacred objects were contained was melted down in the Revolution. The small window with bars to your R, as you face the high altar, was placed there by the superstitious and timid Louis XI, in order that he might behold the elevation of the Host and the sacred relics without being exposed to the danger of assassination. The visitor should also notice the inlaid stone pavement, with its frequent repetition of the fleur-de-lis and the three castles. The whole breathes the mysticism of St. Louis: the lightness of the architecture, the height of the apparently unsupported roof, and the magnificence of the decoration, render this the most perfect ecclesiastical building in Paris.
In returning from the chapel, notice on the outside, from the court to the S., the apparently empty and useless porch, supporting a small room, which is the one through whose grated window Louis XI used to watch the elevation.
I would recommend the visitor on his way home from this excursion to walk round the remainder of the Île de la Cité in the direction of Notre-Dame, so as to gain a clear idea of the extent of the island, without, however, endeavouring to examine the cathedral in detail on this occasion.
Vary your artistic investigations by afternoons in the Bois de Boulogne, Champs Elysées, etc.
B. NOTRE-DAME
[In very early times, under the Frankish monarchs, the principal church of Paris was dedicated to St. Stephen the Protomartyr. It stood on part of the site now covered by Notre-Dame, and was always enumerated first among the churches of the city. A smaller edifice, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, also occupied a part of the site of the existing cathedral. About the middle of the twelfth century, however, it was resolved to erect a much larger cathedral on the Île de la Cité, suitable for the capital of so important a country as France had become under Louis VI and Louis VII; and since the cult of the Blessed Virgin had then long been increasing, it was also decided to dedicate the new building to Our Lady alone, to the exclusion of St. Stephen. The two early churches were therefore cleared away by degrees, and in 1163 the work of erecting the present church was begun under Bishop Maurice de Sully, the first stone being laid by Pope Alexander III, in person. The relics of St. Stephen were reverently conveyed to a new church erected in his honour on the hill of Ste. Geneviève, south of the river (now represented by St. Étienne-du-Mont, to be described hereafter), and Our Lady was left in sole possession of the episcopal edifice. Nevertheless, it would seem that the builders feared to excite the enmity of so powerful a saint as the Protomartyr; for many memorials of St. Stephen remain to this day in the existing cathedral, and will be pointed out during the course of our separate survey.
Notre-Dame de Paris is an edifice in the Early French Gothic style, the first great church in that style to be erected in France, and the model on which many others were afterwards based. Begun in 1163, it was consecrated in 1182, but the western front was not commenced till 1218, and the nave was only finished towards the middle of the 13th century. Much desecrated in the Revolution, the cathedral has been on the whole admirably restored. It stands at present lower than it once did, owing to the gradual rise of the surrounding ground; formerly, it was approached by thirteen steps (the regulation number, imitated from the Temple at Jerusalem). It has two western towers, instead of one in the centre where nave and transepts intersect, as is usual in England; so have all the cathedrals in France which imitate it. This peculiarity is due to the fact that French Gothic aims especially at height, and, the nave being raised so very high, a tower could not safely be added above it. Other differences between English and French Gothic will be pointed out in detail in the course of our survey.
Though Notre-Dame was the first great building in Paris proper, it must be borne in mind that the magnificent Basilica of St. Denis, four miles to the north, and also the Abbey Church of St. Germain-des-Prés, in the southern suburb, antedated it by several years.
Recollect three things about Notre-Dame. (1) It is a church of Our Lady: therefore, most of it bears reference to her cult and legends. (2) It is the cathedral church of Paris: therefore, it is full of memorials of local saints – St. Denis, Ste. Geneviève, St. Marcel, Bishop of Paris, etc., amongst whom must also be classed St. Stephen. (3) It is a royal church: therefore it contains many reminders of the close alliance of Church and State. Thus understood, Notre-Dame becomes an epic in stone.
Open daily, all day long, free. Take your opera-glasses.]
Go along the Rue de Rivoli as far as the Square of the Tour St. Jacques. Walk through the little garden. Notice, in passing, *the tower – all that now remains of the church of St. Jacques-de-la-Boucherie – used at present as a meteorological observatory. Turn down the Rue St. Martin to the Pont Notre-Dame. In front, L, stands the Hôtel-Dieu; R, the Tribunal de Commerce; centre, the Marché-aux-Fleurs; at its back, the Prefecture de Police. Continue straight along the Rue de la Cité, passing, R, the main façade of the modern Palais de Justice (with a glimpse of the Ste. Chapelle) till you come to the broad and open Place Notre-Dame (generally known by its mediæval name of the Parvis). Take a seat under the horse-chestnuts on the north side of the Place, opposite the equestrian statue of Charlemagne, in order to examine the façade of the cathedral.
The **west front, dating from the beginning of the 13th century (later than the rest), consists of two stories, flanked by towers of four stories. The first story contains the three main portals: L, the door of Our Lady; centre, of her Son; R, of her Mother. On the buttresses between them stand four statues: extreme L, St. Stephen; extreme R, St. Marcel, Bishop of Paris (a canonized holder of this very see); centre L, the Church, triumphant; centre R, the Synagogue, dejected (representing between them the Law and the Gospel). This first story is crowned and terminated by the Galerie des Rois, containing figures of the kings of Israel and Judah, ancestors of the Blessed Virgin (others say, kings of France to the date of the building), destroyed in the great Revolution, but since restored. On the parapet above it stand, R and L, Adam and Eve; centre, Our Lady and Child with two adoring angels – the Fall and the Redemption. The second story contains the great rose window and two side-arches with double windows. The third story of the towers consists of a graceful open-work screen, continued in front of the nave, so as to hide its ugly gable (which is visible from further back in the Place), thus giving the main front a fallacious appearance of having three stories. The final or fourth story of the towers is pierced on each side by two gigantic windows, adding lightness to their otherwise massive block. The contemplated spires have never been added. This façade has been copied with modifications in many other French cathedrals.
Now approach the front, to examine in detail the **great portals, deeply recessed, as is usual in French cathedrals, owing to the massive masonry of the towers. The left or northern doorway – that of Our Lady (by which her church is usually entered) bears on its central pier a statue of the Virgin and Child; beneath her feet are scenes from the temptation of Eve, who brought into the world sin, and the first murderer Cain, as contrasted with her descendant, the Blessed Virgin, who brought into the world the Redeemer of mankind. Over Our Lady’s head, a tabernacle, representing the relics preserved within. In the tympanum, first tier, L, three patriarchs; R, three kings, typifying the ancestors of the Blessed Virgin. Above, second tier, the Entombment of the Virgin, placed in her sarcophagus by angels, and attended by the apostles with their familiar symbols. Higher still, third tier, the Coronation of the Virgin, in the presence of her Son, with adoring angels. The whole thus represents the Glory of Our Lady. At the sides below, life-size figures; extreme L, Constantine, first Christian Emperor; extreme R, Pope Silvester, to whom he is supposed to have given the patrimony of St. Peter – the two representing the union of Church and State. Next to these the great local saints: L, St. Denis, bearing his head, and guided by two angels; R, St. John Baptist, St. Stephen, and Ste. Geneviève, with the devil endeavouring to extinguish her taper, and a sympathizing angel. The figures on the arch represent spectators of the Coronation of the Virgin. Minor subjects – signs of the Zodiac, Months, etc. – I leave to the ingenuity and skill of the reader. The *centre doorway (commonly called the Porte du Jugement) is that of the Redeemer, Our Lady’s Son; on its central pier, fine modern figure of Christ blessing; above, in the tympanum, the usual Last Judgment. First tier (modern) the General Resurrection, with angels of the last trump, and kings, queens, bishops, knights, etc., rising from their tombs; conspicuous among them is naturally St. Stephen. Second tier, St. Michael the Archangel weighing souls, with devils and angels in waiting, the devils cheating; R, the wicked (on Christ’s left) hauled in chains to hell; L, the saints (on His right) ascending to glory. On the summit, third tier, the New Jerusalem, with Christ enthroned, showing His wounds in mercy, flanked by adoring angels holding the cross, spear, and nails; L, the Blessed Virgin, patroness of this church; and R, Ste. Geneviève, patroness of Paris, interceding for their votaries. (Last figure is usually, but I think incorrectly, identified as St. John the Evangelist, who has no function on a Parisian Cathedral.) This relief, closely copied at the Ste. Chapelle, is itself imitated from one at St. Denis. On the lintels the Wise (L) and Foolish (R) Virgins; L and R on jambs, life-size figures of the Twelve Apostles, with their usual symbols. Observe the beautiful ironwork of the hinges. The third or southern portal, that of St. Anne – the Mother of the Virgin– contains older work than the other two, replaced from the earlier church on the same site. The style of the figures is therefore Romanesque, not Gothic; so is the architecture represented in them. On the centre pier, St. Marcel, Bishop of Paris. Above, tympanum, history of St. Anne; first tier, centre, the meeting of Joachim and Anna at the Golden Gate; L, Marriage of the Virgin; R, her Presentation by St. Anne in the Temple, etc. Second tier, the Nativity, and the visit of the Magi to Herod; at the summit, third tier, Madonna enthroned, with adoring angels, a king, and a bishop – Church and State once more identified. The work on this doorway much resembles that at St. Denis. Magnificent iron hinges, brought from old St. Stephen’s.
Walk round the quay on the South side to examine the body of the church. Notice the lofty Nave, and almost equally lofty Aisles, with (later) side-chapels built out as far as the level of the Transept; also, the flying buttresses. As in most French churches, the transepts are short, and project but little from the aisles. The South Transept has a good late façade with two rose-windows. Its portal – ill visible – is dedicated (in compensation) to the displaced St. Stephen, and contains on the pier a figure of the saint, robed, as usual, as a deacon; in the tympanum are reliefs of his preaching, martyrdom, death, and glorification. Note, to the R, a small relief of St. Martin of Tours dividing his cloak with the beggar.
Enter the little garden further east, which occupies the site of the former archevêché, in order to observe the characteristic French form of the choir– a lofty and narrow apse, with apsidal aisles and circular chapels added below, the whole forming what is called a chevet. The light flying buttresses which support the soaring and slender choir add greatly to the beauty and picturesqueness of the building. Pretty modern Gothic fountain. Quit the garden and continue round the Northern side of the Cathedral. The first (small) door at which we arrive – the Porte Rouge – admits the canons. It is a late addition, built in 1407 by Jean sans Peur, Duke of Burgundy, in expiation of his murder of the Duke of Orleans; the donor and his wife kneel on each side of the Coronation of the Virgin in the tympanum. Notice here the gargoyles and the graceful architecture of the supports to the buttresses. The second (larger) door – the Portail du Cloître, so called from the cloisters long demolished – in the North Transept contains a good statue of the Madonna on the pier; above, in the tympanum, confused figures tell obscurely the legend of the monk Theophilus, who sold his soul to the devil. Stand opposite this door, on the far pavement, to observe the architecture of the North Transept. The best point of view for the whole body of the cathedral, as distinct from the façade, can be obtained from the Quai de Montebello on the south side of the river.
To visit the interior, enter by the L, or northern door of the façade– that of Our Lady. The lofty nave is flanked by double aisles, all supported by powerful piers. Walk across the church and notice all five vistas. Observe the height and the delicate arches of the triforium, or pierced gallery of the second story, as well as the windows of the clerestory above it – the part of the nave which rises higher than the aisles, and opens freely to the exterior. Walk down the outer R aisle. The side-chapels, each dedicated to a separate saint, contain the altars and statues of their patrons. Notice the shortness of the Transepts, with their great rose windows; observe also the vaulting of the roof, especially at the intersection of the four main arms of the building. The entrance to the choir and ambulatory is in the R or S Transept. Close by, near the pillar, Notre-Dame de Paris, the wonder-working mediæval statue of Our Lady. The double aisles are continued round the choir, which is separated from them by a wall and gateways. Approach the brass grills, in order to inspect the interior of the choir, whose furniture was largely modernised and ruined by Louis XIV, in accordance with a misguided vow of his father. Chapels surround the ambulatory, many of them with good glass windows and tolerable frescoes. The chapel at the end is that of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows.