• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 1157 0

juxtaposed the twelve patriarchs of the Old Testament with the twelve apostles of the New Testament (each with the emblem of his former occupation, such as the fish for Peter, the fisherman, and a purse for Matthew, the tax gatherer), and the four major prophets (Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Jeremiah) with the four evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). In the saintly hierarchy, next came the four archangels. Naturally, Mary held the prime location, very close to Christ on the right-hand side.

Once you have identified the carved scenes in one cathedral, you will be able to apply this knowledge to most churches, because no medieval artist would be rash enough to modify the appearance of figures and the arrangement of the great scenes from the Gospels or to group figures according to individual fancy. Similarly, you won’t need long to identify the church iconography and to recognize many characters and scenes, even if you weren’t born into the Christian religion. King David is always shown playing the harp, and the three magi are invariably wearing crowns, even while they sleep! Seeing a tiny naked child, you will recognize the image of a soul; seeing a mature woman clasping a young girl, you’ll know it is Anne, holding her daughter, the Virgin Mary.

Now, after arming yourself with the appropriate clothing, a good guidebook, binoculars, and a little knowledge and endurance, you can fully appreciate this free and edifying pastime of visiting cathedrals.

TO REFRESH YOUR MEMORY

So many great books have been written about Gothic cathedrals that they form an inexhaustible supply. Two of the oldest studies remain the best:

Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres, Henry Adams (Houghton Mifflin, 1933).

Notre-Dame de Paris, Allan Temko (Viking, 1959).

THE ROAD TO DISCOVERY

Paris

Notre-Dame de Paris (Place du Parvis Notre-Dame, 4ème / notredamedeparis.fr). Open every day 8 a.m.–6:45 p.m.

Crypt of Notre-Dame de Paris. Open April to September daily 10 a.m.–6:30 p.m.; October to March, 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m. The crypt contains vestiges of two-thousand-year-old houses.

Musée de Notre-Dame de Paris (10 rue du Cloître Notre-Dame, 4ème). This museum retraces the great moments in the history of the cathedral.

La Sainte-Chapelle (4 boulevard du Palais, 4ème / sainte-chapelle.monuments-nationaux.fr). Open March to October, 9:30 a.m.–6 p.m.; November to February 9 a.m.–5 p.m.

Amiens (Somme)

Cathédrale Notre-Dame (Place Notre-Dame / cathedrale-amiens.monuments-nationaux.fr). Open April to October, 8:30 a.m.–noon, 2–7 p.m.; November to March, 8:30 a.m.–noon, 2–5 p.m. Its nave rises 138 feet with the support of 126 slender pillars.

Beauvais (Oise)

Cathédrale Saint-Pierre (rue Saint-Pierre / cathedrale-beauvais.fr).

Bourges (Cher)

Cathédrale Saint-Étienne (Place Étienne Dolet / cathedrale-bourges.monuments-nationaux.fr). This is the widest Gothic French cathedral and the most similar to Notre-Dame de Paris. Its western façade has five sculpted portals. Beautiful stained-glass windows.

Chartres (Eure-et-Loir)

Cathédrale Notre-Dame (Place de la Cathédrale / diocesechartres.com/cathedrale).

Reims (Marne)

Cathédrale Notre-Dame (Place du Cardinal Luçon / cathedrale-reims.com). Open 7:30 a.m.–7 p.m.; closed November 1–March 14. This cathedral has been the backdrop of French kings’ coronations from medieval times to 1825 (King Charles X). Its western façade has two thousand statues. In its apse, there is a lovely Chagall window showing the Crucifixion and the sacrifice of Isaac.

Rouen (Seine-Maritime)

Cathédrale Notre-Dame (Place de la Cathédrale / cathedrale-rouen.net). This Gothic masterpiece was painted thirty times by Monet in the 1890s; several of the paintings are in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.

Steven Barclay

Steven Barclay is the author of one of my favorite books, A Place in the World Called Paris, with a foreword by Susan Sontag and illustrations by Miles Hyman (Chronicle, 1994). Here Barclay has gathered wonderful excerpts from twentieth-century fiction, poems, essays, and memoirs and organized them under such compelling