by Tracy Bee

Created on: December 13, 2008

Ah, the magnificent Notre Dame de Paris. When I reminisce about Paris, my mind floats back to my wondrous candlelit experience at the Notre Dame de Paris, as I attended a late Sunday night mass. Stepping in from the cold winter night, I was instantly uplifted as brilliant candlelight reflected heavenward beneath the stunningly vaulted ceilings. As this candlelight flickered and accentuated the cathedral's extraordinarily elaborate stained glass windows, the archbishop of Paris lead Parisians in song and worship. As is the case in all medieval cathedrals, everything in this church is designed to literally uplift the congregation and focus their thoughts on the heavens; the lines of the arches and window reflections all draw the eyes upward. That cold, dark night that I visited the cathedral, I experienced the cathedral's power to draw people in, shelter them and joyously uplift them. The atmosphere inside the cathedral provided a refuge for me from the dark, wintry cold streets of Paris.

Not surprisingly, The Notre Dame de Paris is a cultural focal point. Before I visited The Notre Dame de Paris, locals repeatedly asked me if I had visited it yet. Not only is it actually very significant to European history as a whole, but the cathedral is also, literally, the centre of Paris and all of France. In the courtyard, a star marks the point from which all distances in France are measured. The location was supposedly chosen by a famed peasant-turned-Bishop, Maurice Sully, renowned for his spiritualism. Then, spearheaded in 1163 by King Louis VII, The Notre Dame de Paris became one of Europe's first and most elaborate Gothic cathedrals, its construction spanning most of the Gothic period.

The care taken in building such a cathedral should come as no surprise to you though, especially when you recall the power of the church during medieval times. It was the single most important social institution during medieval times. Truly then, the star marked in the courtyard can also symbolize that point. During medieval times, all aspects of life were indeed measured and controlled by the church. Medieval religio-centric thinking provided people with all answers. Fearful of the unknown, people during this time found sanctuary in the church and its finite answers. Thus, from far and away, peasants and merchants alike, and basically the entire population at the time, all flocked to the warmth and security of the cathedral's walls. Also symbolic of the church's influence during medieval times is its grandiose size. For example, The Notre Dame de Paris could be seen for miles around, a literal focal point for Parisian and French life at the time. Thus, what I experienced that frosty winter night was not unlike what most people would have experienced during these medieval times. A grand symbol of medieval thinking, The Notre Dame de Paris' notoriety, sheer size and warmth beckoned me inwards as it had done for thousands of people before me.

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