Notre Dame de Paris : the eternal cathedral /
Claude Gauvard / Joël Laiter.
- 239 pages : colour illustrations ; 37 cm
"First published in France in April 2010 as Notre-Dame de Paris, Cathédrale médiévale" -- Title page verso.
Includes bibliographical references.
"This book is not a work of art history. It does not look at the construction of Notre Dame de Paris in terms of the complexity of its architecture or its sculptures; it does not go into detail about its leaps in technology, however innovative, nor does it well on the audacity of its 19th-century restoration, either to praise it or to point out possible errors. Although these topics are not overlooked, this book is primarily concerned with telling the story of Notre Dame de Paris as it was in the Middle Ages. But how can we rediscover in today's cathedral, now visited by millions of people from across the world, the medieval building frequented by the bishops and conons, the kings in their nearby palace and the Parisians who lived in the shadow of its towers and its spire? Notre Dame is a living building, one that has been affected by the twists and turns of history. It was neglected during the Renaissance, transformed during the baroque era, mutilated by revolutionary rage, idealized by the Romantics -- and so gradually its medievalpast disappeared under these successive layers of history. Let us begin by raising the veil, by leaving the present and returning to the past in an attempt to rediscover the initial project tha in 1163 led Bishop Maurice de Sully to construct a new building in a new style."--