Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/671

 th: ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW AND AMERICAN BUILDERS' JOURNAL Vol. I.— Eutered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S6S, hy Samuel Sloan, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. MONTHLY BEVIEW. THE MINSTERS OF FRANCE THE desire, which early Christendom glowed with, to pay the highest human honors to Religion, gave energy to those efforts, which reared up the mighty temple to the Most High. And thus we have seen wonders, worked out in stone and wood, at Milan, Cologne, Strasburg, Antwerp, Canterbury and York. We now visit, and pass in review, the great metropolitan church of Paris, Notre Dame Cathedral. There is no positive record of the primitive history of this sacred edifice. But it is known, that the site was occu- pied by a church, dedicated to St. Ste- phen, the first mai"tyr, which stood over a pagan altar, erected in the reign of Tiberius, in honor of Jupiter, the re- mains of which were discovered, in 1711, beneath the choir of the present Cathedral of Notre Dame. The Church of St. Stephen, here spoken of, was erected about A.D. 365, in the time of Yalentinian I. This was rebuilt, in 552, by advice of St. Ger- main. The Church, or Chapel, called Notre Dame, which now gives name to the whole Cathedral, was dedicated, by Childebert, to the Yirgin, under that title. There is a difference of authori- ties, as to the exact time of the founda- tion of the complete Cathedral. Proba- bly the first stone was laid by Pope Alexander III., who had taken refuge in France, while Maurice de Saliac was Bishop of the diocese. This was in 1127; and in 1177 the bishop had the apsis of the choir built, but not quite roofed in. The high altar was conse- crated in 1182, by the Pope's legate; and in 1185 Heraclius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, who came to Paris to preach the third Crusade, officiated in Notre Dame for the first time. The west front was finished A. D. 1223, in the reign of Philip Augustus. The Southern Transept with the grand portal in 1257, during the reign of Saint Louis. The architect was Jehan de Chelles. The Northern Transept and portal, as also the canopies surmounting the side windows, were erected in 1312, by Philip le Bel, with the effects of the con- fiscated estates of the Knights Tem- plars. The Porte Rouge, or Red Gate, was erected in 1407, bj' the Duke of Bur- gundy, the assassin of the Duke of Or- leans, to expiate his crime. On this account, it was formerly painted red ; and hence the name. The interior of the Choir was begun in 1799, and (545)