Historical Events through the Lens of Paris' Cathedrals

The Building of the Notre Dame

 Maurice De Sully came upon the idea of building a Cathedral dedicated to the Virgin Mary. There was a huge economic boom throughout Europe during the time so financially building the Cathedral has worked out. The first stone was laid in 1163  in June jumpstarting the construction that would take years to be completed. Sully, who had started the building of the Cathedral was able to attend one service in it before he passed away, but the Cathedral was not close to finished at that point.

Fuentes, Jose Luís Corral. “An 800-Year History of Paris's Notre Dame Cathedral.” National Geographic, 18 Apr. 2019

 Sinnot, Joseph. The Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, France. 2014, Paris.

Louis IX Received the Crown of Thorns to House in the Sainte Chapelle Cathedral

Louis IX went to extreme measures to have the Sainte-Chapelle accurately display his royalty. The King insisted the chapel to be a sacred place to hold some of the original relics of Christ and he underwent a sacred journey to collect one of the significant relics, the Crown of thorns. “Louis stripped to the waist and took off his shoes before carrying the Crown into Sens. A week later, on 19 August 1239, after the Crown had traveled by river to Paris, Louis and his brother Robert carried the Crown into Notre-Dame where it was placed in the royal chapel.” (Freeman 133) To buy the crown of thorns, “Louis IX had paid the sum of 135,000 livres for it, more than half his entire annual budget.” (Freeman 132) The Crown along with other relics were placed in the Saint-Chapelle after its completion in 1248. The chapel housed the original Crown of thorns, “...Christ’s swaddling clothes, the towel with which he washed the feet of the disciples, and a stone from the Sepulchre. There was even blood that had seeped out from an image of Christ when a pagan had struck it.” (Freeman 136) Louis’ architectural vision for the Sainte-Chapelle is a two-layered, grand building with a beautifully and artistically adorned interior, which displayed his royalty and made it a proper place for holding such important relics.

References

Freeman, Charles. Holy Bones, Holy Dust: How Relics Shaped the History of Medieval Europe, Yale University Press, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central.

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Wojazer, Philippe. Jesus’ Crown of Thorns. Paris, France, 21 Mar. 2014. 

Ideas of the French Revolution

 Between 1789 and 1799 the ideas of the French Revolution had spread all over France and specifically Paris. The Revolution was symbolic of the victory by evil (Jonas 347). These values included the approval of bloodshed and harming one's neighbor; as well as, the approval of revolt and rebellion had become popular. Because of the popularity of these values the French Revolution propelled until 1799. The ideals of the revolution were polar opposite of those valued by the church. In France, the church valued being gracious and loving to one's neighbor. Contrary to the French Revolution, the church would ask the people of Paris to love their own enemies, and these values of the church are reflective of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Text Source: 

Jonas, Raymond. “Sacred Mysteries and Holy Memories: Counter-Revolutionary France and the Sacre-Coeur.” Canadian Journal of History, vol. 32, no. 3, Dec. 1997, p. 347. EBSCOhost, doi:10.3138/cjh.32.3.347. Accessed 11 Nov. 2020. 

Image Source: 

Duplessis-Bertaux, Jean. Run on the Tuileries on 10. Aug. 1792 during the French Revolution. 1818, Pairs. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:French_Revolution-1792-8-10_w.jpg. 

The Attack of the Sainte Chapelle in the French Revolution

The French Revolution began in 1789 because of the French citizens’ discontent with the control of the french monarchy. The Saint-Chapelle was built by Louis IX to display the power of the government in 1248 and when Louis XVI was making poor economic decisions during his reign, citizens began to push back against French leadership. As the French Revolution began and citizens fought against the policies of the monarchy, “the Sainte-Chapelle was sacked by the Revolutionaries who saw in the shrine a symbol of royalty by divine right. The reliquary shrine was melted, the steeple and baldachin removed, and the relics dispersed. However, a few were saved and are now stored in the treasure of Notre-Dame Cathedral. As for its remarkable stained-glass windows, they were left untouched.” (Pierre) The fact that the revolutionists sought to destroy the Sainte-Chapelle shows the extent of how the physical building represented the government’s power.

References 

Pierre. “Be Stunned by the Beauty of the Sainte-Chapelle, Paris.” French Moments, 15 Apr. 2020, frenchmoments.eu/sainte-chapelle-paris/.

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Français : Bataille De Jemmapes 1792. France. 

The Crowning of Napoleon

During the French revolution the Cathedral was practically in ruins but it had gained popularity after Victor Hugo’s novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Napoleon was crowned in 1804 and it marked an age of modern empire. His crowning was in the destroyed cathedral and Hugo’s novel made the idea of rebuilding much more popular. Napoleon’s coronation helped jumpstart the rebuilding of the Cathedral.

Willsher, Kim. “Our Lady of Paris: a History of Notre Dame Cathedral.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 15 Apr. 2019.

David, Jacques-Louis. Napoleon Bonaparte. 1813, Royal Scottish Academy, Scotland.

The Construction of Sacré Coeur

In 1875 the construction of Sacré Coeur was begun by Paul Abadie. The construction of this cathedral was symbolic of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This cathedral was to stand as representative of the true heart of Paris. Paul Abadie planned that every architectural design would symbolize the meaning of Sacré Coeur. The cathedral was to, both symbolically and literally, represent the heart of Christ. The construction highlighted a specific value to Paris, this being: the Sacred Heart of Jesus is essential in describing the heart of the city. One can not speak about Paris without considering its heartbeat, that is the very heart of Christ. This cathedral was built to serve as a constant visual reminder of what ought to be near to the heart of the people. 

Text source: 

 Jonas, Raymond A. “Restoring a Sacred Center: Pilgrimage, Politics, and the Sacré-Coeur.” Historical Reflections / Réflexions Historiques, vol. 20, no. 1, 1994, pp. 95–123. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/41298987?seq=12#metadata_info_tab_contents. Accessed 11 Nov. 2020.

Image source:

 Luce, Maximilien Luce, The Construction of the Sacré-Cœur. 1884, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Caen, Paris. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:La_Construction_du_Sacr%C3%A9-Coeur_(Luce).jpg.