Matthew Tremblay

When I went inside Notre Dame, I was astounded by the beauty of the 700-year-old building. Inside the great cathedral the choir was singing, creating a background sound much more attractive than that of the tourists outside. One thing I found surprising was the complete silence of the place, except for the choir and the slight pitter-patter of feet; all of the noisy, obnoxious tourists from outside seemed to surrender to the complete sacredness of Notre Dame. I felt so calm inside the cathedral, every part of me seemed to relax and slow down, and when the great bells rang in the tower above us, my entire body shook with the sound. However, it was when I saw the rose window that I knew for a fact that I would never, ever forget this trip. The whole window is 13 meters in diameter, and must have been made of at least eight thousand pieces of glass; each portal had a crystal-clear picture of a saint, or a man at work. All of the light from every sparkling piece of glass was shining across the hall, making it the brightest part of the entire cathedral. Out of the entire week I was in Paris, I will remember the hour and a half I was in Notre Dame the best. I will remember it for my whole life.

Notre Dame is a name that is known all over the world. Even though many cathedrals in Europe bear this famous name, the original Notre Dame can only be found in the center of Paris, on an island called Ile dé la Cité. The High Gothic style of the 11-13th centuries is displayed here in one of its most beautiful examples.

The buttresses form a cage around the cathedral, which follows the walls upward before joining into the roof. These buttresses along with the unique pointed arches gracefully supply beauty to the building, while supporting the weight of the roof by channeling the force outward and away from the building.

Arches are everywhere in the cathedral, on the west facade, in the doorways, even in the windows! The pointed arches make one look up, always. The roof is heavy on its own, and when it rains, the water would always collect in the dents in the roof, however architects soon came up with an ingenious idea of getting the water off the roof. They installed a series of trenches running from the center of the roof down to the edges, and then the trenches continued to go out even farther from the building by going on top of the buttresses. Upon reaching the end of the buttress, the water would be launched away from the cathedral through the mouth of a gargoyle. Gargoyles are sculptures of animals, an eagle or monkey for example, mounted on the ends of buttresses and sticking out away from the building. Notre Dame cathedral has gargoyles everywhere, above the doors, inside the buttresses, on the bell towers, all over. It was amazing.