Although the Emperor Napoleon’s coronation 1806 was a very grand affair, Notre Dame cathedral was getting to be in a rather sorry state. In the decade following the French Revolution in 1789, much of the interior had been damaged and many of the medieval stained glass windows were destroyed because of their religious themes.
Fortunately the three beautiful rose windows were untouched and they can still be seen today.
By the late 1820s, however, Notre Dame was in such a poor state that the French government talked of demolishing the building completely, rather than trying to repair all the damage. But not everyone agreed with this.
One of those who objected was the author Victor Hugo.
Born in Besancon in eastern France in 1802 to Sophie Trebuchet and her husband, Joseph Leopold Hugo, who was a general in Napoleon’s army, the family moved home many times, including a short stay in Spain, before they finally settled in Paris.
There he attended lectures at the Lycée Louis le Grand – which was the boys’ boarding-school where Mum had stayed when she was in Paris in March 1966.
Then in 1818 he started studying law and, soon after that, he and his brother began writing and publishing poetry and built up a good reputation for their literary work. But Victor Hugo was also a good story-teller and in 1830 he wrote the novel that would make his name. This was Notre-Dame de Paris, which was published in 1831.
Set in and around the cathedral in the late 15th century, it was translated into many languages, including English where it was known as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.
The novel’s growing popularity began to bring thousands of visitors to Paris, not just from France, but also from all over the world – and of course they all wanted to see the place where the story was set. Luckily this amount of attention shamed the government into abandoning its plan to demolish the cathedral and instead it was repaired and restored.
After we’d visited Notre-Dame, Mum took me to another building nearby and, if I’m honest, I thought it was a lot beautifuller…
This building was Sainte Chapelle which had been built in the courtyard of the medieval Palais de la Cite, the residence of the French kings until the 14th century.
The chapel itself was commissioned by king Louis IX around 1238 to house his collection of holy relics, said to relate to the Crucifixion. These included the Crown of Thorns and a fragment of the True Cross, which were installed in Sainte-Chapelle when it was completed and consecrated in 1248.
The building had tall, narrow windows which gave it strength and meant they could also be placed close together. They let in plenty of light, but also tell the Bible story of the history of the world from the Creation through to the arrival of the relics in Paris in a series of 1135scenes.
There is also a rose window from the 15th century which shows the Apocalypse.
And, although there seems to be a dizzying amount of colours in these windows, there are actually only seven. These are one shade of red, one shade of blue, two shades of green, two shades of purple, and one shade of yellow, plus some translucent glass to bring in more light and emphasise the colours.
But, like the nearby cathedral Notre-Dame, Sainte Chapelle suffered damage during the French Revolution. Some of the beautiful windows were broken or even removed and sold to art collections around the world and in 1806 it stopped being a church altogether. It was then used both as a flour warehouse and an archive store for many years.
Then, thanks to the publication of Victor Hugo’s Notre-Dame de Paris and the attention it brought to the cathedral, it was realised that Sainte Chapelle was also worth rescuing and restoring and between 1840 and 1863 much work went into getting it back to its former glory. Some windows could be repaired, but others had to be completely replaced, but in spite of this two-thirds of the windows that are there today are original ones from the 13th century.
And, with that, I’d better sign off for today – but, now I’ve given my memory a bit of a shake, I’ve realised I’ve lots more to tell you about our trip to Paris in 2000. So, take care and stay safe – and look out for some more tales from me soon!
Follow my next blog: 272. MY MUM THE STORY-TELLER – PART ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-SEVEN
10/08/2023
Wilf the bear-faced blogger 