Notre-Dame of Paris: official time-lapse construction sequence

Created by Myles Zhang (animation) and Stephen Murray (historian)
VIEW FILM WITH AUDIO NARRATION: • Notre Dame of Paris: N...
READ MORE: www.myleszhang.org/2021/01/12...
VIEW/DOWNLOAD DIGITAL MODEL: skfb.ly/6XT7u
Peer reviewed by historians at Columbia University and at the American Friends of Notre-Dame
Music performed by Tomás Gilabert at "Musicnetmaterials"
• Perotin - Viderunt Omn...

[@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

when Notre Dame was constructed: - The Byzantine Empire still existed - several crusades take place - Richard the Lionheart died - Genghis Khan invades China and conquers Persia - America wasn't even discovered by the Spanish yet goes to show you how old this amazing place is

[@bendover4668]

Most things in Europe are. My family is 900 years old. I think most people don’t realize how much history Europe has.

[@FleetAdmiral-ft5xt]

Hello there!

[@francoise4678]

@Carolus Martellus it was an accidental fire

[@edeliteedelite1961]

@@francoise4678... it was not.

[@francoise4678]

@@edeliteedelite1961 it was , but some people prefer to believe in different conspiracy theories ( in france too )

[@lonasimpresasmonterrey7599]

Notre-Dame de Paris survived all kinds of wars and events that could have destroyed it, but was more affected by its maintenance in the 21st century.

[@jdsmith5060]

Those "people" sipping wine on a canal cruise boat that had a Perfect view of Notre Dame for the Entirety of the Event just happen to be in that very spot by mere coincidence!?! Doubt It . And just for that 1 fact alone means, The Fire Was PLANNED! "OH but thats just a conspiracy"

[@leaderunith4l324]

@@jdsmith5060 Because it is just a conspiracy. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

[@jdsmith5060]

@@leaderunith4l324 "people" refers to aka Big Mike. Who just happen to be there. There where pics and video of IT after it happened but good luck finding those now.

[@jdsmith5060]

Kinda like the "Invisible Jet liner that hit the Pentagon

[@hugos5114]

@@jdsmith5060 invisible but not that invisible considering it was caught on camera.

[@millersimon6655]

the fire of Notre Dame had 1 advantage, this demonstrated the unequaled talent of the master "Batisseur", the cathedral is so perfect, so well built, that 800 later and despite a fire having collapsed the roof and part of the vault, she is still standing. (Sorry i use Translate)

[@spaencerable]

it's because of the reinforcement, it didn't got destroy because of some luck that's all

[@millersimon6655]

@@spaencerable the reinforcement works began long after the fire, for a long time her destiny was in danger, and she held on.

[@rbsmith3365]

Let’s hope that ceiling and roof will be reproduced exactly that way. No modern touches please.

[@SuperLn1991]

That's not as easy, their is no plan of the "forest" (the wooden part) because to be honest it was an organized mess: 2000 trees were used for that. To rebuilt it that was would be too expensive and and wouldn't be possible with today's security laws. Plus, the roof was made with some toxic materials that are banned today. Then we don't have the same tools/talents today.

[@vaevictis3612]

@@SuperLn1991 It will be rebuild as it was, largely following the old *charpente* web - it has been confirmed by French Ministry of Culture. There are distinguished carpentry schools in France that know how to design and build it, in fact there is such a school at Notre-Dame de Paris itself. There are oak plantations that were planted 150 years ago specifically meant to be used for Cathedral restoration. Lead roof cover might be replaced with a more inert metal design, which in itself will be a testament to a modern metallurgy and yet respectful to the existing Gothic structure.

[@rbsmith3365]

@@SuperLn1991 Hello, The roof was built with 2,000 trees?!? That’s a lot and, it would wipe out entire forest of France. I hope that they would find something at lumber company or substitute different materials. Thanks for sharing.

[@cosmos942]

@@rbsmith3365 There is more forest now in france than 200 years before..so it s not a problem.

[@cholloway0046]

@@vaevictis3612 that is just amazing.

[@charlesmcdermott6139]

I had the great joy of saying Mass there a few times. I hope that someday I may do so again. My heart sank when I saw the fire. May it be lifted up soon!

[@anacletwilliams8315]

My heart sank as well when I saw the fire. It was so sad and tragic.

[@soniazint496]

Last time I went to Paris, I went to mass there

[@anacletwilliams8315]

@@soniazint496 I am so glad you did, Sonia. It shows what a devoted catholic you are. May God, the Almighty bless you, my daughter!

[@marksmadhousemetaphysicalm2938]

It hurt to watch it burn...its been a few years since I've been to Europe and I know cathedrals burn often...but...its still terrible to see...

[@jdsmith5060]

Those "people" sipping wine on a canal cruise boat that had a Perfect view of Notre Dame for the Entirety of the Event just happen to be in that very spot by mere coincidence!?! Doubt It . And just for that 1 fact alone means, The Fire Was PLANNED! "OH but thats just a conspiracy"

[@tonyhawk94]

Nobody, litteraly nobody : The singer : *EEEEE*

[@brewen_lmrch]

*OOOO*

[@mraihansidhartta309]

Ooooo aaaaaaa eeeeeee

[@Ruho_ami]

HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY

[@adrino222]

Viii viii VIIIIIIII

[@rawghastgang8696]

amazing song

[@1900trent]

The greatest Catholic icon in France and cannot wait for its restoration in 2024

[@franciscouderq1100]

I wish they ll take their time, no hurry we can wait. Good work requires time.

[@eddielee8591]

@@franciscouderq1100 Nowadays the requirement is 'do good work but on time and on budget".

[@deer563]

You're damn right

[@Yasin_2312]

@@franciscouderq1100 I’m sure they’ll want to finish by 2024 for the Paris Olympics

[@artofmusic303]

Thank you for using authentic music from the time of its construction.

[@eloifougerat5271]

I'm not sure it's authentic music of the time of construction, at the time, the Church had control over the musics, and only fiths and fourths were allowed... So might be something else.. But if I'm wrong, let me know :p

[@kikamen]

Not only it’s from the time of its construction, but also it was composed by the main representative of the Notre Dame’s school, Perotin (ca. 1150-1230). It’s considered to be the oldest composition for 4 voices we have a record of in Europe.

[@eloifougerat5271]

@@kikamen cool, i didn't know :)

[@rjlleal]

Viderunt omnes fines terræ salutare Dei nostri. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Psalm 98 (97), 3cd. Long polyphonic melismas (those very extended vowels) in "viderunt omnes" ("everyone saw"). Then one voice chants "fines terrae" etc ("in all the ends of the earth" etc) and we hear the ringing bell. Pure joy.

[@rjlleal]

Actually, "omnes fines terrae" is the subject. So "all the ends of the earth saw" etc - but you get the idea.

[@g.a.c.4139]

The enormity, and complexity, and beauty of this cathedral is tremendous. The many people who originally built it were truly motivated by the "great creator of all things". Once inside,, no wonder one's eyes sore to the top of the building and cause one to praise God himself.

[@mdtdbe]

I don’t think you intended to call this great cathedral an enormity. “Enormity” is often misused to refer to great size, because it looks as though it ought to be a noun synonym for “enormous,” which it isn’t. An “enormity” is an evil of shocking scale, a grave sin, a monstrous act or situation. The Holocaust was an enormity. A school massacre is an enormity. Notre Dame is not. Thought you would want to know. :-)

[@jyedavies4423]

, I think they mean to say, “The enormity...” as said in awe. Like, “The enormity of this project is of an unprecedented scale,” where it is used as an adjective rather than a noun.

[@cry_baby_the_dancing_clown801]

@@mdtdbe well it's an easy to make misstake for a non native english speaker , lets take as an exemple my native language , romanian (a romantic language with slavic infulances), when you reffer to something of a grand scale , enormous as you said , we call it "enormitate" , so saying "enormity" sounds closer to a non native speaker rather then enormous.

[@gamigam6420]

Helped me to help my family, we are poor and I want to change our life, fund my transport project in my country please😢😥 or give me alms don't take me for a scammer I just need to be helped

[@johnsherman6718]

@@gamigam6420 God helps those who help themselves. You have no faith.

[@peterbrook329]

To me there is no building in the world more beautiful and inspiring than Notre Dame, I was in tears watching the fire and am looking forward to seeing it reopen, hopefully, in 2024. Thanks be to God. 🙏🏻

[@Rushmore222]

I'm not religious but I have profound admiration for a great deal of religious architecture, music, and art.

[@hexagonist23]

Why do you have to point out you're not religious?

[@davidndounou]

@@hexagonist23 why does one have to point out anything ? shut up and let people express themselves

[@dj12brown1]

I appreciate the use of Pérotin for the music!

[@mxtomituck]

As I started to watch this I was thinking about why the hell it takes them centuries to build these things but seeing how many times they rebuilt some of these features it makes a lot more sense.

[@Sennmut]

Without trucks, power tools, modern cranes or even a telephone to keep all the various bits in communication, it's a wonder they managed at all.

[@francoiseballe4278]

Merci pour cette rétrospective, j'y suis particulièrement sensible du fait que Notre Dame a toujours fait partie de ma vie. Depuis mon baptême, la fréquentation de l'école Notre-Dame de Paris située rue des Ursins à l'ombre de Notre Dame, j'y ai reçu les sacrements mais j'ai toujours été attachée à elle tant par l'architecture, la foi, l'environnement.... NOUS AVONS HATE DE LA RETROUVER

[@JTonson]

Absolutely brilliant - thank you so much.

[@velvetbees]

Breathtaking! Thank you for this.

[@Ominous89]

This is food for me. I've been working on this on paper for months. For thousands of hours. Stone by stone. I've done all sides. But there is more to come. E.E. Viollet-le-Duc also made a version with completed front towers. I'm working on his vision from the West and East side. It's going to be awesome.

[@MylesZhang]

Awesome! Looks like we've similar interests: www.myleszhang.org/2020/06/08/new-york-city-in-one-drawing/

[@Ominous89]

@@MylesZhang you're an amazing artist with similar ways of work like I do. Also, this capture of the cathedral is pretty much flawless. I really like how you showed how the design of the building changed overtime during its construction. Excellent work. What I'm doing is capturing the building in big pen contours and pencil stone laying, applying shadowcontrast with pencil and then draw all the pen lines over again. The result look like it's coming out of the paper because I captured every detail of the building. Almost as good as a moneybill. I also had plans to go to Paris to help them rebuilding it as a carpenter/jack of all trades. The crisis ruined it for me. Being homeless at that time ruined it for me. So the only thing left for me to do is to do what I also did as a kid: draw it, stone by stone.

[@MylesZhang]

@@Ominous89 Wow. Your commitment to the cathedral is inspiring! I hope your work will be documented and that I can see it when you are done. My main regret with past art projects is that I put hundreds of hours into them but did not use the best paper and pens, and so now many of them have not aged well. :-(

[@Ominous89]

@@MylesZhang it will be documented when I'm done. In some way you won't give it away before the real thing is done. It took so much effort and time to put this together. Notre Dame is not just a cathedral. My drawings of it are not just drawings. It's a very delicate piece of work and art. So I'm very carefull with it. I hesitate to put it on the internet just like that. But I will find a way. The motivation for all this is not only the drawings of the cathedrals as a kid. Later on I started to design my own cathedral inspired by the Notre Dame. I made a picture of that. I adjusted that picture with layers on a cellphone. The end result of that was a blackened picture of the building, with its middle spire in flames enlighting other parts of the building. In other words, a picture of a déjà vu of the real fire. Made 5 years before the real fire. When you see that picture in the document, you will know it's me.

[@Ominous89]

@@MylesZhang I also have this problem, with black ink becoming yellow spots on the drawings. In combination with pencil linings. Once I noticed that I started to draw a new one without touching the paper. Sweat and fat from your skin on white paper become yellow stains. That's the main problem with me. So you need to find ways to keep your skin off the paper at all times. Looks like it works for me.

[@karlheinzegger4534]

Standing in front, or walking through the cathedral one does not give enough thought and credit to the architects and masons who built the cathedral with very limited tools and equipment but unlimited determination.

[@ernestopalenzuela9383]

Esta muy bien realizado el v

[@ernestopalenzuela9383]

Vidio así se ve el tiempo de arte que tardó en realizarse tan bella catedral

[@thhseeking]

I'm not saying it was aliens, but it was aliens 🤣🤣🤣

[@peterbrook329]

It really boggles the mind that in the 12th century, such incredible architecture could happen without the building advantages we have today. Construction was slow but not hard to understand why.

[@deniss.6205]

indeed, and the masons who put the roof on fire and summoned the money 24hs later.

[@kathym6603]

Bless the French for rebuilding and preserving this world monument. It is a tribute to all of mankind. Hopefully there will be books written about the endeavor and video walk-thrus as well. There is another 20 months until its completion in December 2024. Thrilling.

[@modelworksajt1301]

Great video Myles!

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

The real reason why Notre Dame burned: *Frollo*

[@FleetAdmiral-ft5xt]

Bruh

[@naly202]

Awwwww. Poor dear Frollo. He didn't. He burned the city, not the cathedral. It was Quasy who poured molten lead from the battlements.

[@picardiebelleregion9508]

Très bonne vidéo, c'est excellent, un grand merci !

[@bennyboiart7781]

I love the care and detail put into this animation, with especial admiration for the fact you included the revisions made to the original portions during the construction process to make them more up to date with the higher gothic style.

[@frankt722]

This is wonderful to watch. I can't wait for the completion.

[@Gildas_djdb]

I’m looking forward to the reconstruction of the spare! This will be a historic event!

[@Gildas_djdb]

Indeed it is, can't wait to see the roofing of the spire!

[@WillyIlluminatoz]

Wow, most beautiful sketch I ever watch.. ❤️❤️❤️

[@imitatio]

Absolutely magnificent! This painstaking reconstruction is on every way worthy of its subject! Thank you!!!

[@lours6993]

The first church on this site dates from the beginning of the 2nd Century. It would be good to show the 3 or 4 churches on the site from 110 AD to the start of construction of the current cathedral in 1160.

[@MylesZhang]

That is true! Little is known, too, about the appearances of the earlier churches. Because almost no archaeological evidence survives, the two small churches shown at the start of the animation are purely speculative.

[@ItsIdaho]

@@MylesZhang Oh, I thought that was 2 Barns. Good to know ^^

[@darylmorse]

Very impressive video. Thank you for sharing. I was fortunate to see Notre Dame. I look forward to seeing the reconstructed cathedral again.

[@khamilton7537]

I wonder what the original builders would have made of this video. It's truly miraculous. Loved this and will watch it again!

[@benmartinez8443]

They would think it was witchcraft and would be terrified 😂

[@stevegrimes5105]

Thank you for this video

[@AnyM4jorDude]

Excellent video!

[@libcarljabon3925]

Vive le Cathedral Notre Dame de Paris

[@jeffbaxter8770]

Amazing project-time lapse, thank you. South africa 🇿🇦 ♥

[@franckthivant2059]

Wonderful work, thanks

[@reho7387]

Excellent job on the digital rendering.

[@thomasswenson6549]

I absolutely love the medieval chanting!❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@gabrielroure7763]

Magnifique, et le choix musical est parfait... Merci!

[@franciscouderq1100]

Excellent travail, merci

[@raew3655]

Absolutely amazing!

[@Alexander-tj2dn]

Awesome video and awesome music.

[@gertrudedemontparnasse6010]

This video is perfect!!

[@edwardswilliamsj]

Si, está perfecto, incluso la música!!!

[@victormedina834]

Congratulatios,fantástico video

[@BalthazarDesign]

I can not fathom the mindsets of architects back in the 11th century ( and prior/after) Designing these huge monumental building to their Faiths. buildings they know they will never see complete nor do they know if they will be completed at all. even crazier is that we will see the completion of one of these in the Sagrada familia. granted that one was built ''late'' compared to the other cathedrals but, you get my point

[@mamilou2126]

Cela est l investissement pour les génération futurs...... Même si parfois les générations du futur ne savent pas apprécier les efforts des anciens.......

[@dejinyakultura]

Great work!

[@corlisscrabtree3647]

Thank you

[@johnjeanb]

Thanks a lot for the great & instructive animation. The great Organ installed in 1733 has been disassembled on December 9, 2020 to be cleaned from lead fire deposits and re-tuned. All pipes to be inspected and possible bumps in the pipes from the disaster will be corrected

[@rmp7400]

Beautiful presentation of the original work done - and of Nôtre Dame Cathedral additions/restorations past and present.🌹

[@migueladdon3659]

Thank You...!

[@davidvincent1093]

Amazing ami of the work. I am impressed that most additions were done in 20 year sections, what a great idea. Considering how complicated and heavy the work was 20 year a section seemed to be very fast. There days even with modern machinery you could not do that precise of work in 20 years

[@Wimbold]

With modern construction techniques you could produce work that's much more precise than that and complete the whole building in a couple of years.

[@tudorjason]

When I heard about the fire, I felt like I missed my chance of seeing it. I haven't been to Paris yet and I hope to some day before I die. I glad the cathedral wasn't damaged too much and will be good as new soon.

[@faithnoellecurtis3360]

The Notre Dame Cathedral has survived many things over 800 years and will survive 800 more. Just like how Big Ben's chimes will ring once again someday.

[@jasonfallon4968]

Great work.

[@johngolden891]

Thanks for this video. Viewing the details of how each section of Notre Dame was added over time makes me realize just how magnificent this beautiful cathedral is. Surely one of the dozen most outstanding structure in all the Western world. So glad that the stone structure retained its integrity as did much of the stained glass and that the rebuilt Notre Dame will reopen later this year.

[@oldyoung9379]

Incredible. So light church.

[@SaxandRelax]

I love the music

[@ashritha1163]

Beautifull thank you

[@johnsherman6718]

What stunning and excellent achievement of the people back then. Glorious!

[@UNK0WN8270]

Super architectural video i really liked it

[@2kevinthecool]

this should have 1,000,000 views at least!!!!!!!!

[@litoboy5]

amazing !!!

[@azizbekov6009]

Magnifique !

[@Sunaru6914]

I am not a Christian, but I got my hands on a 3D puzzle model of Notre Dame, and now I find the thing majestic.

[@colinhazell2544]

Very good!

[@cantusfirmusbecker7825]

Bravo, bravissimo! Danke!

[@paulcandiago9339]

Super!

[@ashrafulhaque8759]

I am glad that I watched this video. Now I like to visit Notre-Dame! Badly!!

[@pedroreis9339]

Astonishing!

[@RevantuZ]

I really admire the foresight people had to start a project which they knew full well would most likely not be finished within their lifetime, for the benefit of generations to come.

[@edelsovaldes728]

Thanks

[@marciohenriquepierobonmart9052]

"In the and, my Immaculate Haert will triumph."

[@lindaclark1406]

WOW. This is amazing and so easily understood.

[@JuanCastro-td2jt]

Lo que son 4 minutos son siglos de esfuerzo trabajo dedicación y fe buen video

[@kingearl2596]

Super fine animation ! Thank you !!

[@mrofnocnon]

magnificent

[@JohnSmith-jj9jl]

You know, Quasimodo predicted all this.

[@moboutmen]

Beautifully done.

[@jacquesjacques-yh8hh]

Amazing software......

[@doriantemanupaioura3175]

Merci l'ami, c'est un honneur de voir le patrimoine français dans se chronologie.

[@marlonf.]

Magnífica animación.

[@dans.3155]

Congratulations! A fantastic video in every way!

[@euroschmau]

You do such beautiful and valuable work! I saw a video recently where restorationists were reconstructing an arch using salvaged stone which passed stability tests. The restoration is one of the greatest of all time, I look forward to visiting Paris again once it is complete. However I do believe the 2024 goal has been pushed back in part due to Covid19 but also due to the sheer complexity of the project. Hopefully not too far beyond 2024 however.

[@MylesZhang]

Thank you, David. I enjoyed your photographs of Triplicane, too. Finding the right timbers and stone are a real challenge. The original limestone quarries near Paris used to build the cathedral are all used up. Because all the best quarries were gone, Viollet-le-Duc's stone from the 19th-century restoration was, in fact, lower quality and is more decayed now than the centuries old medieval stone from the original construction.

[@christinelachance8012]

@@MylesZhang ...Great video! I really hated that rococo spire that Violet Le Duc constructed. It was kind of out place IMO... Do you know what is planned?

[@MylesZhang]

The current plan is to rebuild the cathedral and spire as they appeared before the fire. Viollet-le-Duc modeled the Paris spire after the 15th-century Late Gothic spire of Amiens Cathedral. His spire might not be "original" to the cathedral, but the goal of this film is to question what in the cathedral truly is original. Each generation has added or taken from this space, and so the cathedral is never finished. It does not come down to us in some ancient and static form. Instead, it is a living work of art and synthesis of styles and features from each generation that inhabited it.

[@franciscouderq1100]

Actually you can see workers , artisans, super qualified craftsmen and women, masters in their respective field using medieval techniques to restoring this cathedral. It s all in the open in front of the building. Mind blowing concentration of knowhow and hard work. Thanks to the Compagnons du Devoir who kept throughout centuries till today this immense and rich professional cultural heritage.

[@marka.graffakasnakebitenat3736]

@@MylesZhang there's plenty of limestone in Texas, USA.

[@vincentciliberti5026]

Good luck and God Bless

[@gregorymcd944]

fantastic video! Looking forward to completion of the repairs and re-build

[@porpedroiiebertrand]

Notre Dame is stronger than we know!

[@maryhope3199]

MARVELOUS👋-💥🥰😇 Que hermosura, Gracias Dios por todos los grandes arquitectos y personas con FE QUE SABEN TRASCENDER Y CON 💘 SE DEJAN GUIAR POR EL ESPÍRITU SANTO Y DAN LO MEJOR🥰😇💪🤝🙏💥🌎. FELICITACIONES. ELLOS Y ELLAS con su trabajo, creatividad, apoyo y generosidad hicieron posible este majestuoso templo. Maravilla del mundo. Vamos llega para todos hay lugar. Bienvenid@ Hn@ 🤝👏💐🥂🛤🌄 💒🙏🕊🌏.GOD CONTINUE BLESSING THE WOLD🤩

[@Lardenoy]

Merci beaucoup ! Champenois, de Reims et familier des cathédrales de Soissons, Noyon, Laon et ...Reims bien évidemment j'ai apprécié que vous ayiez su choisir un mot et liturgique de la fameuse " École Notre -Dame", source musicale 'idoine " pour cette vidéo. Rappelons que l'" Opus francigenum " rayonna à Prague, Tolède, Burgos, Famagouste, Upsalla, Assise, Fribourg, Prague même si un président inculte, né à Amiens, a déclaré qu'il n'y avait pas...d'Art français ! 😵‍💫😡😓

[@tedwashburn]

I wish there were a way we could salute the builders of Stonehenge, to say “This is our offering. From our time.”

[@carlshandicrafts1319]

Wat was the cement that they use on building a structure?

[@fleshboss3925]

the animation is great! it would be bad if that would happen irl 😳

[@jacekkubiak4616]

Très joli travail avec Sketch'up? Merci et bravo!

[@k.7781]

THE WORKER LEFT SOME CIGARETTE ON THE WOOD....🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@Ijnuhbes]

Very good chronoligical reconstruction, truee, it seems. The fire, at the end of the vidéo, is thomething frequent : Chartres 1838, Reims 1914, Noyon 1918, Nantes 1972, Paris 2019 and a lot of others... But Chartres, Nantes, Paris : not the war or the celest fire, but the men in charge of the restauration ! Incredible.

[@Decopunk1927]

Notre Dame is a beautiful building. Would've been cool if they'd made a modern roof and spire.

[@deenagara9151]

Please do one on St Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, St. Stephen's Basilica, Budapest and the St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague!

[@clairejonas6125]

Chartres, Reims, etc. www.detoursenfrance.fr/patrimoine/patrimoine-religieux/les-plus-belles-cathedrales-de-france-7884

[@_alex_okyoz_230]

Notre-Dame is still in construction

[@dubstrap6095]

Fun fact, for the restoration after the fire they used the model from assassin's creed unity as a guide

[@francoise4678]

not sure there are plans

[@julienclarety4919]

no they use data from my societe, we had taken the measurements just before the fire.

[@marvinhaines9297]

Paris Cathedral (Notre Dame de Paris) is a very interesting one as cathedrals go. Unlike most two-towered French cathedrals, it is five-aisled - and as a result, the column shafts of the dividing arcades align with the centers of the two towers. It is a little-known (at least little-accepted) fact that the double towers represent the twin pillars (Boaz, Jachin) that stood at the entrance to King Solomon's Temple and the three portals represent the three Degrees of Craft Masonry. It truly makes sense, given that these edifices were constructed by operative Masons who learned this symbolism in their lodges.

[@Lardenoy]

Ce shéma de façade à 2 tours se trouvait déjà à Laon : on retrouve ce type "francien":( = d'Ile de France) à Senlis, Saint-Denis, Noyon, Mantes -la-Jolie, Chartres, puis Reims, etc mais elle apparaît aussi, dès le 12 ème s. en Normandie, à Caen : St Etienne et Ste-Marie aux Dames (façades de type "harmonique"). Avant 1200, la cathédrale de Laon offre déjà la séquence des différents niveaux : 3 portails, Grande Rose, galerie d'arcatures (qui devient galerie des Rois à Paris, Chartres, Amiens, Reims), puis niveau terminal des 2 tours de façade. Il n'existe en revanche aucune preuve historique d'une transmission de connaissances entre loges des tailleurs de pierre médiévaux et loges maçonniques des 17-18 ème s.

[@marvinhaines9297]

@@Lardenoy My French is quite poor, but your comment looks fascinating! Can anyone translate this? Thanks!

[@christopherstephenjenksbsg4944]

Superb video animation! I also love the period-appropriate music! I have a couple of questions: I had thought that the choir and apse as originally constructed had no flying buttresses, and that they were added when the clerestory was enlarged. Has subsequent research come to a different conclusion? In the same vein, I had thought the original flying buttresses in the nave had a very different form, and that they, too, had been reconstructed when the clerestory was altered. I am also interested in the original transept facades. Is there any direct evidence that something like what you show was their original form, or is this conjectural based on extant facades of the period, such as at Laon?

[@MylesZhang]

Thank you, Brother Christopher. We don't know much about the clerestory's original appearance in the nave and choir. No records survive, and rebuilding the clerestory from 1220 to 1225 erased all traces of the upper levels. So reconstruction is speculative. Some nineteenth-century architects speculated that Notre-Dame originally had no flying buttresses, and that they were only added when the clerestory was rebuilt. Some claim that the upright buttresses were originally smaller and that they were only expanded and reinforced in the 1200s to support the added weight of the flying buttresses. But because the upright buttresses in the nave are uninterrupted and show no signs of having been modified, then we can assume that they were original to the 1100s. Therefore the upright buttresses are so large and so massive that they must have been built in anticipation they would later carry the weight of the main vaults via the flying buttresses. In addition, the original width and height of the nave are so large that the stone vaults would have fallen without the support of flying buttresses. The question of whether or not the original Notre-Dame contained flying buttresses might seem trivial. But the dating is central to the story and origins of Gothic. Notre-Dame was central to the spread of the Gothic style, and the flying buttresses are one of the key features of the Gothic. So to date the flying buttresses to the original work in the 1100s instead of the 1220s reconstruction is, in some ways, to push back the narrative. Stephen Murray, who advised this film, discusses your question at length in his 1998 article "Notre-Dame of Paris and the Anticipation of Gothic." www.jstor.org/stable/3051231 He describes no fewer than SIX proposals people have had over time for Notre-Dame's original look. For my construction sequence, I relied mainly on Dany Sandron and the late Andrew Tallon's illustrated book "Notre Dame Cathedral: Nine Centuries of History." They speculate that the original transept facades and rose windows from before the 1245-1265 rebuilding resembled Vaux-de-Cernay Abbey.

[@christopherstephenjenksbsg4944]

@@MylesZhang Thank you so much! I am going to check out that link about the various hypotheses regarding the form of the original flying buttresses. I'm sure I am familiar with some of them, such as Violet-le-Duc's, but I suspect I'll find some surprises. The transept facade reconstructions make perfect sense to me, and seem very appropriate to the period. While I'm sure they're not exact reproductions, the original facades undoubtedly resembled them. Thanks again for your wonderful animation. I really enjoyed it, and it has my curiosity piqued.

[@MylesZhang]

Thank you. Notre-Dame is a testament to its builders' faith and commitment to a building cause so much larger than themselves. Their names are largely forgotten, but their work continues to inspire. I only hoped to share my warmth for this cathedral with others. So I'm delighted you were inspired.

[@wolfgang8818]

Was für geniale Baumeister haben soetwas vor so langer Zeit erschaffen 🤔

[@0rsan2010]

God bless ✨✨✨✨