Notre-Dame, a gothic masterpiece

Notre-Dame de Paris was partially destroyed by a fire in 2019. The building is a masterpiece of Gothic architecture. VIDEOGRAPHIC

Transcript

00:00The construction of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris began in 1163 and the basic structure

00:11was finished in 1345.

00:14The building covers a surface area of 6,000 square meters, 127 meters in length, 40 meters

00:20wide and 33 meters high, until the mid-13th century it was the largest religious monument

00:27in the Western world.

00:29A masterpiece of Gothic architecture, Notre-Dame was laid out in the form of a cross to reflect

00:34the divine order.

00:37Architectural features and technical innovation made it possible to construct ever-higher

00:41buildings.

00:43Builders could produce pointed arches on doorways and made systematic use of higher and higher

00:48ribbed vaulting, thanks to the flying buttress, a support built against the outside walls.

00:55To reach these great heights, the builders invented hydraulic saws to section the blocks

00:59of stone, lifting gear like the so-called squirrel cage, which made it possible for

01:04one man to raise 600 kilos high onto the scaffolding.

01:08Thanks to these techniques, it was possible to make large openings in the walls that housed

01:13vast stained glass windows, much bigger than was possible in the Middle Ages.

01:18To protect the stone from the rain, gargoyles were positioned at the end of the gutters,

01:23leaning into the void.

01:26The forest, the name given to Notre-Dame's timber work, was an impressive tangle of oak

01:30beams.

01:32Around 1,000 trees were used in the 13th century construction.

01:37Before the fire in April 2019, the forest was regarded as a masterpiece for its technical

01:41complexity and exceptional state of preservation.

01:46Because of a lack of clay to manufacture tiles, the roof was made of lead.

01:50It weighed 210 tons.

01:53There was an organ in Notre-Dame as early as the 12th century.

01:56The instrument that survived the fire in April 2019, however, dates from the 15th century.

02:02With nearly 14 million visitors a year, Notre-Dame was the most visited monument not only in

02:07France but in Europe before the blaze.