Make a Pilgrimage to Medieval Paris

History comes to life in the company of a knowledgeable guide.

That's exactly what happens when Paris Muse guide Kristen tells the fascinating history of Notre Dame cathedral through the tangible details of the building itself:

"See those greenish sculpted figures there, climbing up the spire?" Kristen asked visitors on a recent tour. "One of them is holding up his hand, and turning his head away from the the sun. That is a portrait of the 19th-century restorer Viollet le Duc, shown as if he were blinded by the beauty of his own creation."

Viollet le Duc's now controversial 19th-century restorations (of which he must have been quite proud!) comprise just one of the many episodes of a complex history that began in 1163, when the first stone was laid. In the centuries that followed, generations of craftsmen and builders all left their mark.

Kristen's specialty is French medieval literature, so she knows exactly how to "read" the stories carved into the massive portals of the 12th-13th-century Gothic façade. In Kristen's company, the sculptural decoration becomes a visual encyclopedia of medieval beliefs and customs.

The front facade also includes a version of Christ's family tree: the north portal showing scenes from the life of his mother Virgin Mary, the south; from his grandmother's St. Ann, and up above in the gallery, the statues of more distant ancestors; the Kings of Judea and Israel.

Here is where Viollet le Duc had his work cut out for him. The heads of these kings were removed by anti-royalist Revolutionary mobs in the 1780s. The original heads were lost for years; these are 19th-century copies. The originals are now beautifully installed at the National Museum of Medieval Art (Musée du Cluny). But the full story of the king's missing heads will only come to light in the second half of Kristen's tour, when she takes her 21st-century "pilgrims" across the river to the Cluny, the former monk's residence where medieval Paris continues to live and breath.

To read the description of Kristen's "Notre Dame and Cluny: A Pilgrimage to Medieval Paris" click here
http://www.parismuse.com/seminars/cluny.shtml

 E-mail this page
 Printer-friendly page