The Notre Dame Cathedral

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• was started in 1163
• was finished in 1345
• in all took 182 years to build
• multiple architects designed it
• is Gothic style architecture

         Notre Dame is a cathedral in Paris. It is the cathedral that was the home of Quasimodo,the hunchback inn the famous book, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, by Victor Hugo. It was were Napoleon was crowned, and also was the cathedral were many kings and queens were married. It was a important cathedral in the life of Joan of Arc. The wolves of Paris were killed in front of it. The wolves of Paris were a pack of wolves that roamed about in Paris killing people, the people of Paris even named the wolf pack's leader. This was one of the cathedrals that a tightrope walker named Philippe Petit walked on. He walked on a cable between the two towers of the west facade. It is one of the main attractions in Paris.


     It was, and still is a great honor to be the organist for the Notre Dame Cathedral. Only the best organists have played for it. In 1900, 500 organists competed for the position! The organist who was elected, Louise Vierne, died played at the organ 37 years later.


      The building of the cathedral was brought about by the Bishop Maurice De Sully. He ordered a cathedral torn down, and decreed that the cathedral that is now Notre Dame to be built. Houses were torn down, and a road was built to haul in stone to build the cathedral. Different architects designed Notre Dame. There were at least four or five! So, even though it was Gothic style architecture overall, the style was different in different parts of the cathedral, because the architects did not design everything exactly the same.  Each architect had his own style.


       Maurice De Sully putted most of his time and effort and wealth into the building of the cathedral, and when he died, the next bishop continued on overseeing the building. When he died, 137 years would pass before the cathedral was finally completed. Different architects remodeled some parts to make them more modernized as time went by, and added different things, but finally in 1345, it was finished; one of the most famous cathedrals in the world, and a masterpiece.