Notre Dame Cathedral seems to be enveloped by an aura of mystery that undoubtedly owes much to Victor Hugo’s novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame and its cast of world-famous characters: Esmeralda, Quasimodo and others. But there is so much more to this monumental cathedral. As the poet Paul Claudel said, “Notre Dame is not just an edifice, it is a person.” And it is true. We could add that it is a very honorable person, a millenary witness to some of the greatest events in French history. Did you know, for example, that it was at Notre Dame that King Philip the Fair assembled the etats généraux to mark France’s independence from the political power of the Popes in Rome?
King after king commissioned additions by the best artisans, turning Notre Dame into a true museum of the evolution of Gothic architecture and sculpture. Our visit will take us from Romanesque sculptures to the statues of Louis XIII and XIV made by Antoine Coysevox and Guillaume Coustou in the early 18th century.