Notre Dame

    Notre Dame is probably the most famous image in French Gothic art. The Paris facade seems locked into a severe pattern, with restrained formal shifts and restricted movement in depth. Rather than generating strong vertical energy, the portals, windows, and tracery gallery of its main block are gathered into a square, subdivided by a few strong vertical and horizontal elements into a grid-like pattern with the rose window at the center. The monumental strength of the facade is unforgettable, but its progressiveness is less than obvious. Yet, it is present in the intellectual rigor, concentrated sculptural density, and subtle progression of weight and texture from the lower to the upper parts.

    Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was seminal in the evolution of the French Gothic style. It is 110 ft high, the first cathedral built on a truly monumental scale. With its compact, cruciform plan, its sexpartite vaulting, flying buttresses and vastly enlarged windows, it became a prototype for future French cathedrals.

    The original plan comprised double aisles and ambulatories and was on a bent axial line. The transepts, as so often in the Paris region, did not project beyond the aisle wall. The interior elevation was originally of four levels, with an arcade of columnar piers; a tribune, originally covered with transverse barrel vaults, and lit by round windows; decorative oculi opening into the tribune roof spaces; and small clerestory windows. The high vault is sexpartite, covering double bays. The vault is very high, just over 100 ft, and the wall which supports it very thin and articulated by very slender ace-bedded shafts. Double-span flying buttresses support the nave. These are often said to be the earliest flying buttresses, though it is now clear that earlier buildings also had them.