Paris, Notre-Dame
Building Data for Paris, Notre-Dame
- Type: Cathedral
- Affiliation:
- Region: Ile-de-France
- Department: Paris
- Coords: 48.853, 2.3499
- Surveyed: 1969, 1972-74, 1977, 1980-83, 1992-98, 2004, 2005, 2009, 2012, 2017
Capitals for Paris, Notre-Dame
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The building sequence is based on my on-site analysis of the construction history,
using the techniques developed on the cathedral of Chartres called toichology, and described in a number of publications.
The analysis of some of the smaller churches are more approximate than I would like, and need further analysis.
I have used 'phase' rather than 'campaign' to to identify a contiguous zone with similar elements.
A campaign would be defined by recognisable breaks and construction joints in the fabric: there may be a number of phases within a campaign.
One benefit is that separate programs by subcontractors, such as carvers, may be isolated, which is particularly useful in complex sections, such as portals.
Every phase has been assigned to a decade, so there may be more than one phase in a decade.
While this is certainly imperfect, it will allow us to explore all the data, including costs, across time.
This is an on-going process, so as the data continues to be analyzed, the chronology and costing analysis will be further refined, and the synopsis updated.
Clicking on any of the decade graphics will display all buildings that had work being done during that decade.
The building sequence is based on my on-site analysis of the construction history, using the techniques developed on the cathedral of Chartres called toichology, and described in a number of publications. The analysis of some of the smaller churches are more approximate than I would like, and need further analysis.
I have used 'phase' rather than 'campaign' to to identify a contiguous zone with similar elements. A campaign would be defined by recognisable breaks and construction joints in the fabric: there may be a number of phases within a campaign. One benefit is that separate programs by subcontractors, such as carvers, may be isolated, which is particularly useful in complex sections, such as portals.
Every phase has been assigned to a decade, so there may be more than one phase in a decade.
While this is certainly imperfect, it will allow us to explore all the data, including costs, across time. This is an on-going process, so as the data continues to be analyzed, the chronology and costing analysis will be further refined, and the synopsis updated.
Clicking on any of the decade graphics will display all buildings that had work being done during that decade.
Phase 7 - 1160s [1167] - choir (g) II
gallery bases 2; capitals phase I starting in the north
Rationale for dating : capitals first stage; analysed in "The Ark" 5:1073 [*MCS - Fabrice]
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Phase 9 - 1160s [1169] - choir (g) IV
Gallery bases 4 that are rectangular and suggest the matching profiles for the western crossing piers were set out at the same time; capitals phase III, middle vaults and walls raised to clerestory level at the crossing with two capitals, either in this campaign or the one before
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Rationale for dating : MCS - Lazare, Marcel, Gamma and possibly Cyprian who had worked together at Laon.
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Phase 10 - 1170s [1170] - choir (t,c)
Gallery capitals IV, remaining vaults. This was a slow period of construction, and once completed the rest of the choir walls were built rapidly.
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Phase 11 - 1170s [1175] - choir (t,c)
Choir triforium roses and clerestory; The area alongside the clerestory windows has been heavily restored, and many capitals replaced.
Those few that seem original, from weathering and appearance, are reproduced. The upper capitals were carved in the 70s, and the lower at the time the windows were altered in the 1220s.
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Rationale for dating : "The Ark" 3:81 and from the Canterbury analysis I would date these between 1177 and 1178, just the time that Torigny was visiting the site and remarked “The apse is about finished except for the great roof.”
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Phase 15 - 1190s [1192] - nave 1-6 (a)
nave aisle capitals 1-6, arcade arches and aisle vaults
Rationale for dating : decadic range "The Ark" 1:688
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Phase 18 - 1200s [1206] - nave 1-6 (g)
nave gallery 1-6, in stages as shown by joint WN3-4 in wall
Rationale for dating : decadic range "The Ark" 2:934
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Phase 20 - 1210s [1210] - nave 8-11 (g)
nave gallery 8-11, clerestory 1-7 in a number of campaigns
Rationale for dating : "The Ark" 2:1015
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Phase 21 - 1220s - choir (c)
Replace choir triforium oculi and lower the clerestory window sills, then install the high vault, while the roof was raised and the cornice height increased by two courses to bring the choir to the same height as the nave.
Rationale for dating : The evidence that suggests the rib vaults of the choir were not erected at this time is that the bosses have large and realistic foliage more reminiscent of the aisles at Chartres from around 1200 than the 70s; that the top of the roof cornices in the nave and choir are at the same level and have the same detailing, but around the choir the cornice is three courses high, whereas the nave is only one, suggesting that the choir walls were completed and roofed (as at Chartres) but the vaults were left out and not completed until the 20s while they got on with the work in the nave; this would have made it easier to enlarge the clerestory windows as there were no vaults in the way. They may have been built at the same time as the eastern bays of the nave, and to the same height, which made it necessary to raise the cornice in the choir to the same height as the nave.
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