Secrets of the Dead (2000–…): Season 18, Episode 8 - Building Notre Dame - full transcript
An in-depth investigation into the centuries-long construction of the Notre Dame de Paris, including the architectural, technical, and human challenges that played out during its history dating back to the 12 th century.
♪♪
♪♪
- It is the world's
most famous cathedral.
Majestic and inspiring,
this marvel
of Gothic architecture
seemed to defy time.
But in 2019, the world
would discover
just how fragile she was.
[ Thuds loudly ]
- One of the things we learned
on the 15th of April
was how much Notre Dame means
to people all over the world.
- When construction began
in the 12th century,
people didn't use
cranes or drills,
not even wheelbarrows.
Notre Dame is a pinnacle
of human achievement.
- We must put ourselves
in the shoes of people
from the Middle Ages.
It was far too ambitious.
- These medieval builders
were pushing the boundaries
of what was possible.
♪♪
- They were working at
the cutting edge of technology.
- Flying buttresses,
50 feet long.
Huge rose windows,
the largest at the time.
- They are the most complex
aspect of architecture.
- It is a reinvention
of stone architecture.
- Spanning eight centuries,
the history of Notre Dame
includes repairs, restoration,
and expansion.
- If we'd let things be,
the cathedral
would not be standing.
- Victor Hugo made the cathedral
a part of
the popular imagination.
Eugène Viollet-le-Duc's
19th-century renovations
improved on the original
Gothic architecture.
- Viollet-le-Duc's obsession isto
uncover the building's logic,
like an archeologist.
- Now, historians, engineers,
and archaeologists
have undertaken a comprehensive
study of the great church.
- What problems did masons,
stonecutters,
and quarrymen face?
We follow the same path
as the builders.
- The hope is to understand
how Notre Dame
became the queen of cathedrals.
- The building sites
of the Middle Ages
were like Silicon Valley
in California today.
That was where everything new
was discovered.
All the innovations
that were so important.
♪♪
- "Building Notre Dame."
♪♪
- In the middle of
the 12th century,
Paris is not yet a capital city.
Despite its dynamic economy,
it has just 40,000 citizens.
And its cathedral
is a modest one...
St. Etienne
on the île de la Cité.
- Paris has to do something.
They cannot leave
the old buildings as they were.
They must think about
making themselves visible.
- One man believes a new
cathedral will be key
in making Paris
an important city.
In 1160, Maurice de Sully
is elected Bishop of Paris
and oversees the diocese
from St. Etienne.
- Maurice de Sully
is the Bishop of Paris
between 1160 and 1196,
a very long bishopric
of 36 years.
Reconstructing the cathedral
is his initiative.
He is the key figure
who harnessed the energy
for this unprecedented
construction project.
-[ Concludes in French ]
- De Sully is from
a modest background,
but is clearly a man
of great ambition,
and as bishop, he also has the
power to accomplish his plans.
- If you think about these things
as political gestures,
as gestures of assertion
and identity,
we understand the scale
of this building much better.
- One can imagine de Sully's
ambition rising
like Notre Dame's
vaulted ceiling,
more than 100 feet in the air.
-[ Speaking French ]
- It is hard to appreciate
these proportions,
because inside everything
feels harmonious and logical.
But the building
is absolutely enormous.
It is 130 meters long.
The nave is as wide as a bus.
And vertically, you can fit
an airliner in the nave.
-[ Speaking foreign language ]
- The blessing of Notre Dame's
first stone
takes place
in the spring of 1163
in the presence
of both Pope Alexander III
and French King Louis VII,
two of Europe's
most powerful men.
- Maurice de Sully seems to be
working closely with Louis VII.
He involves the king
in the great event
of the laying
of the first stone,
with the Pope as well.
It's a kind of meeting
of church and state.
♪♪
- We place our church
under the protection
of the Virgin Mary,
the mother of Christ.
It will be called be
Notre Dame Cathedral...
Notre Dame de Paris.
- Changing traditions
in the Catholic Church
inspire the cathedral's
new name... Our Lady.
Veneration of the Virgin Mary
is flourishing at the time.
In the 12th century,
the mother of Christ becomes
a central figure in the liturgy,
especially in Paris.
- She is the mother.
The Virgin Mary has a role
of being accessible,
understanding,
and also being an intercessor.
This is so important.
Imagine, of course,
that medicine
is practically unknown
except for herbal practices,
etcetera.
So the sympathetic intercession
of the Virgin
seems especially important.
♪♪
- In the Middle Ages,
life revolves around
religious duties and practices.
Some part of the original
St. Etienne church
needs to remain open
during the construction
of Notre Dame
so that nine daily masses
can still be offered.
Everything about the new
building is designed
for the purpose
of worshipping God.
The main areas of the church...
The sanctuary and altar,
transept and nave...
Form the shape of a cross
with the sanctuary
symbolizing the head of Christ.
It faces east to welcome
the first rays of the sun.
[ Birds chirping ]
Before the foundation
can be laid,
the builders must first dig out
the soil of île de la Cité,
the island
in the middle of the Seine.
- The goal is to prevent
the building from sinking.
So they dig until they hit
very compact soil,
presumably until they reach
the Seine's
former alluvial deposits,
9 meters below today's sidewalk.
Most probably, they dug out
the height of a house,
with a ground floor
and two stories...
A truly colossal undertaking
with pickaxes and buckets.
♪♪
- The trenches are then filled
with hundreds of tons
of roughly cut stone blocks
to strengthen the foundations
and support the cathedral's
colossal weight.
But Notre Dame is just
one of many churches
built during this period.
- The first thing to understand
about the age of the cathedrals
is that from about 1000 to 1300,
it was warmer than usual.
Just as we have ice ages,
we also have warm ages.
And when there's a warm age,
there are more crops,
people get richer,
and they have some spare money.
So one of the reasons
the cathedrals were built
was that Europeans had
more money than previously.
♪♪
- An architectural revolution
is underway in France.
In the 1140s, a portion
of the Saint-Denis Abbey
located north of Paris
is rebuilt.
Walls are replaced
with large bays of windows.
♪♪
-[ Speaking French ]
- The light is tinted
by the stained glass,
which depicts religious scenes
and characters.
This gave people a sense of
thehigher reality of the hereafter,
of paradise and God.
- We should see this architecture
as spacious and full of light.
No one had seen
anything like it.
- Maurice de Sully is
obviously very aware
of what is going on around him.
- And Maurice de Sully's project
takes advantage
of these innovations.
Notre Dame unites all
the characteristics
of Gothic architecture
in a single building
for the first time.
The shape of the Gothic arch
makes it possible
to build taller buildings.
And the ribbed vaults
in the ceiling distribute
the weight
of the roof onto pillars,
allowing the walls
to be opened up with windows.
Outside the church walls,
the flying buttresses...
The largest of their time...
Absorb the horizontal thrust.
-[ Speaking French ]
- Notre Dame includes elements
developed on earlier projects,
but surpasses them all
through its enormous scale.
-[ Continues in French ]
- To keep such a slender
structure in balance,
certain techniques
had to be perfect,
such as the extraordinary use
of flying buttresses measuring
15 meters long.
The daring nature
of this architecture
is still appreciable today.
♪♪
- It must have seemed like
an impossible task
to the builders
of the Middle Ages.
But Notre Dame's location
gives it an advantage
in one important area...
Transporting materials would
have been far too expensive.
Fortunately, the site is near
several limestone quarries.
- The stone is excellent.
- It's underneath your feet.
So Gothic really had
to happen here.
- The abundance of limestone
means it can be used
in many different ways.
- Île-de-France has a thick layer
of accessible limestone,
but depending on the depth,
you find limestone
with different
mechanical properties.
-[ Continues in French ]
- One location provides
limestone for columns,
which are massive
and bear heavy loads,
and another for delicate
sculptures.
♪♪
- The limestone quarries
are located
along the banks
of Paris's rivers.
♪♪
- And limestone isn't
the only important material
needed at the construction site.
Wood is just as crucial.
- The most important material
is firstly wood.
For the framework,
for the form work...
...wood for scaffoldings...
wood for carts...
and tools.
Wood is everywhere.
♪♪
- There is a unique site
in Burgundy where we can see
how medieval builders
relied on wood.
Here, a 12th-century chateau
is being rebuilt
using only methods
from the time period.
- When the group began their work
20 years ago,
they knew large quantities
of wood would be needed...
First for the scaffolding.
Initially, the scaffolding
was built on stands.
But above a certain height,
medieval builders developed
an ingenious system
to hang these supporting frames
from the wall.
-[ Speaking French ]
- During medieval times,
scaffolding was mostly hung
from walls using putlogs,
a piece of wood
that sticks into the wall
and serves as a ledge
to hold up planks.
-[ Continues in French ]
- This installation set the pace
for each successive stage
of wall construction.
- The holes used to attach beams
in the 12th century
are still visible on the walls
of Notre Dame today.
The need to lift
the heavy limestone blocks
up several stories,
without the use
of a modern crane,
leads to another innovation.
Using an illustration
from a 14th-century Bible,
the Burgundy team
has built a machine
that would have enabled medieval
builders to lift heavy loads...
...a dual treadwheel crane,
operated by two people.
♪♪
-[ Speaking French ]
- This squirrel cage built
on a swivel has a jib arm
with a payload of 500 kilos,
which means each lift
can place up to half a ton
of stone on the walls,
up to a height of 18 meters.
-[ Continues in French ]
- 10 lifts per day adds 5 tons
of material to the walls.
This raw data for the average
building rates
was generated by our experiment.
- And limestone isn't the only
material that must be
brought up to the builders.
Vast quantities of mortar
must also be lifted
to the tops of the walls
and scaffolding.
The mortar binds each of
the blocks to create walls,
and when mixed with gravel,
fills the interior
to provide greater
strength and stability,
which has helped the cathedral
stand for more than 800 years.
♪♪
The mortar mixers of Burgundy have
developed their own method.
Mortar is a delicate blend
of sand, water, and lime.
It is indispensable
for construction,
but fickle to work with.
- Our experiment has shown
that you can use
these mortars in all weather.
We do not work
in freezing conditions
because the lime mortar loses
its mechanical resistance.
It's very difficult to work
during dry periods
and heat waves,
when we have to cover
the masonry
and add water to the mortar.
So medieval construction,
insofar as our experiment
helps us grasp it,
entails almost daily adaptation
to climate and weather.
- After more than 15 years
of construction,
the builders have completed
the altar and its sanctuary.
It is three stories high,
and measures 100 feet tall.
And the construction crew
was smaller
than one might imagine...
Only a few dozen people
at a given time.
- This varied over time,
and according to the season.
The building site
was not isolated,
as there are people workingin
quarries and forests as well.
-[ Continues in French ]
- It is surrounded by an entire
industrial system
that makes this construction
process possible.
-[ Concludes in French ]
- [ Grunts ]
- [ Shouting in French ]
[ Indistinct conversations ]
♪♪
- Building Notre Dame is
an organizational challenge
unlike any other.
To ensure the construction
runs smoothly,
de Sully and the other
church leaders work together
as what we would think of asa
project management team today.
Managing the budget
and hiring technical experts
are things
this group would handle.
♪♪
[ Box thuds softly ]
Most importantly, the team
hires the master builder,
the equivalent of an architect.
Without written records
for Notre Dame,
the best way to understand
the role of the master builder
is to look at
a master builder's contract
for another nearby cathedral.
-[ Speaking French ]
- Contracts stipulate thatthe
master builder must be loyal
to the contracting authority.
- Your Grace.
- That he cannot
accept work elsewhere,
or leave with the plans.
If he's sick,
he will not be paid.
During the Middle Ages,
people are paid in sols,
in sous, and in tournois pounds,
but also received a great deal
of their pay in kind...
Housing, firewood, and clothing.
[ Grunting ]
- The identity of Notre Dame's
master builder is unknown.
It is the craftsmen
at the construction site
who lead the Gothic revolution,
not academics.
- The innovations
of Gothic construction
were not made by intellectuals,
they were not made
in universities.
They were made by men
who worked with their hands.
- The master builder of
a medieval building site
in the 12th and 13th centuries
is firstly
an incredible artisan.
An artisan with experience
in the cost of materials
and know-how...
[ Hammering ]
...in transmission,
and knowing how to lead people.
He's an entrepreneur
who inspires his team.
- With all of the different
industries
and tradesmen involved,
a precise organizational
structure with clear rules
is the only way they can
all work together successfully.
- Each trade has a master leader
who usually possesses
expensive tools.
♪♪
- For younger workers, training
lasts for several years,
during which they are paid.
These groups were
the predecessors
of today's unions
and apprentice programs.
- You have a multigenerational
situation
where young people are learning
from old people
who have experience.
And new ideas are introduced.
The way of building is modified
as time goes on, and you...
It must have been
an extraordinarily exciting
environment to be in.
- One difficult question
to answer
is how much the construction
of Notre Dame cost.
Any price tag would have
to include materials,
much of which was likely
theproperty of the Catholic Church.
And labor was often paid
at least
partially in kind
with room and board.
When compared with
other buildings of the time,
historians have suggested
the cathedral
cost roughly 150,000 pounds,
though it is hard
to convert that to an amount
in today's dollars.
For the sake of comparison,
de Sully,
one of the richest men in Paris,
donated 100 pounds
to the project.
-[ Speaking French ]
- 100 pounds compared to
a total cost
of 150,000 pounds or more.
Occasional financing,
such as the donations
from major figures
we find in the archives,
was not enough
to finance construction.
-[ Woman vocalizing ]
- The diocese could rely on
income from its land
in the Paris Basin.
- The diocese of Paris,
which corresponds to the heart
of today's île de France,
is an incredibly rich area.
It also has substantial
real estate holdings in Paris.
Until the early 13th century,
the bishop claimed ownership
over the land
between the Rue Saint-Denis
and the hill at Chaillot.
This includes practically
one-quarter of today's Paris,
and it came with royalties
providing considerable
financial revenue.
- But not of all of the income
derived from church
real estate holdings
would be spent on Notre Dame.
- May God be with you.
- De Sully develops
other methods
to finance his grand project.
- God bless you.
- Thank you, Father.
- [ Speaking French ]
- Maurice de Sully is not
against using stratagems
to raise more funds.
-[ Continues in French ]
- He issues indulgences,
documents that granted sinners
remission from punishment
in exchange for payment.
Rather than making
a pilgrimage to Rome
or Santiago de Compostela,
the sinner simply paid a sum.
-[ Concludes in French ]
- Lord, forgive me...
- The bishop is willing
to issue indulgences
to people who've committed
a range of sins.
His priority is financing
his cathedral.
- On the one hand, you have
an ambitious bishop
who understands
the representational
role of the cathedral.
On the other hand,
you have people who say,
"But Christ was poor.
Blessed are the poor.
We should give away
what we have."
So you always had this tension
within the church
between expenditure
on delightful buildings
and charity and generosity.
And this is a complicated issue.
♪♪
- While some people may frown
on de Sully's methods,
the donations are a way
to involve the community
in the church's construction.
- If the cathedral sparks such
fascination among the people,
it's because
they can relate to it.
This doesn't mean they
took part in construction,
but they helped finance it.
I believe this contributes
to the greatness
of these buildings.
- Five years after
its construction is completed,
the altar is consecrated in 1182
and is available
for church services.
-[ Speaking French ]
- A temporary partition
of timber or plaster
was probably used
to insulate the choir
so that religious life
can continue,
while building continues
in the transept and nave.
♪♪
- The King!
- The second phase
of construction begins
during the reign
of Philippe Auguste,
with whom de Sully
had a close relationship.
- Your Grace.
- Philippe.
- How is your cathedral
coming along?
- More importantly, the king
makes Paris his capital.
And the fate of Notre Dame
changes dramatically
as a result.
Determined to improve
the city's standing,
Philippe Auguste
begins construction
on a fortified city wall as well
as the Château du Louvre.
During his reign, France becomes
the leading European power,
and the population
of Paris expands.
- Therefore, there is
a self-consciousness of Paris.
The walls are important in that.
The cathedral
is important in that.
The Royal Palace,
the abbey of the temple,
where they are keeping
the financial records...
All these institutional
settings in the city
collaborate, right,
in the creation of the idea,
"This is the center."
And that happened then,
and it's still the case now.
♪♪
- As Paris prospers under
Philippe Auguste,
the builders accomplish one of
their most difficult tasks...
The vaulted stone arches
that make up the ceiling.
- This is one of the mysteries
of cathedral construction,
because it's probably
the most complex process...
Firstly, because
they are very high,
so you have to work at a height.
And because they take the shape
of a formwork
that has not survived.
- Wooden rafters
sit on stone pillars.
Then, stone blocks are placed
on top of the rafters
to form the vault's ribs.
Once the arches are in place,
their blocks are cut to fit
and lock with the keystone.
Lastly, more stone blocks
fill in and enclose the vaults.
- The revolutionary ceiling
is a stunning achievement,
and construction continues on.
The transept is completed
in the 1190s.
♪♪
Maurice de Sully, who launched
this grand project
and oversaw it for 30 years,
dies in 1196.
-[ Speaking French ]
- I don't think anyone who saw
the start of construction
imagined that
they would see the end.
♪♪
- The next major task
for the builders
is to raise the western facade,
with its magnificent
portal entrances.
- [ Speaking German ]
- The portals connect
the inside and outside
of the cathedral.
They symbolize the transition
from earthly life
to the hereafter,
to heavenly life.
-[ Continues in German ]
- That is the purpose
of the Church...
To connect heaven and earth.
-[ Concludes in German ]
-[ Speaking French ]
- These great series of portals
are sometimes called
"stone bibles,"
with subjects relating
to Christ, the Virgin Mary,
and saints.
This dates back to
Pope Gregory the Great
in the late 6th century,
who promoted figurative
decoration
for an illiterate public
that did not have access
to the Gospels or the Bible.
-[ Concludes in French ]
♪♪
-[ Speaking German ]
- Designing the portals
required close cooperation
between intellectuals,
namely clergymen and artists,
since clergymen established
the sculptural plans
to be produced for the portal.
-[ Continues in German ]
- This probably took the form
of discussions such as,
"No, let's move the Christ
a little higher.
It will be more in harmony
with the Virgin Mary."
Something along those lines.
- Hundreds of statues decorate
the lower half
of the immense wall.
♪♪
In the 13th century,
Parisian sculpture
becomes more refined,
with more delicate drapery
andincreasingly lively expressions.
The Gallery of Kings,
28 statues
that sit above the portals,
have an unprecedented
level of detail.
Each statue is nearly
10 feet tall
and stands 40 feet
off the ground.
And they suggest a greater
understanding of perspective,
well before its formaltheorization
in the Renaissance.
Both the bodies and the heads
of the kings
are larger than possible
in nature,
but when seen from the ground,
they appear normal.
- I wouldn't call it perspective
in the technical sense,
but certainly an empirical
understanding
of the appearance of things
as seen from a certain angle.
-[ Speaking French ]
- The statues of kings
in the gallery
are at a height of 12 meters.
The faithful visiting during
the Middle Ages
had little room to step back.
The church square was
incredibly shallow,
just 35 meters deep.
So one could only observe
the statues standing very close
to the portals.
♪♪
- The statues of kings that
decorate the cathedral today
were designed by
Eugène Viollet-le-Duc
in the 19th century.
But an analysis of the remains
of the original
13th-century statues has
revealed something surprising.
- [ Speaking German ]
- We had already analyzed
the west facade,
and found color everywhere.
This means the cathedral
must have been multicolored.
We noticed that there were
multiple layers of color.
This means that it was not
painted just one time,
but constantly repainted,
and certainly
in a different way.
♪♪
- During the Middle Ages,
Notre Dame's facades
were covered with colorful paint
and even gold.
- It is proven, these colors
were very bright...
Bright red, bright yellow,
bright green.
Quite shocking to our eyes,
which are much more accustomed
to a very monochromatic
appearance.
♪♪
- I think if we could go back
in a time machine
and see Notre Dame in,
let's say the 13th century,
we might have said,
"Oh, too bright!"
[ Laughs ]
♪♪
- The disappearance
of the bright colors
is a reminder
of all the cathedral
has witnessed
in her eight centuries.
♪♪
-[ Speaking French ]
- Cathedral construction
is subject
to many unforeseen events...
Work stops during
extremely cold weather,
frost threatens the masonry
before the mortar dries.
♪♪
The Seine regularly
bursts its banks,
potentially paralyzing
the surrounding area.
- The church has survived
all kinds of disasters,
from floods
to political violence.
♪♪
- Cathedrals are built as a kind
of triumph over adversity.
- After 60 years, as they near
what they believe
is the end of construction,
the builders realize
their work of art
has a significant flaw
that might endanger its future.
- There were no gutters,
no system for collecting
rainwater.
- Water has always been
the great enemy of architects.
- Water running down
the exterior walls
of the cathedral seeps into
and erodes the stone
and causes cracks when frozen.
For a building the size
of Notre Dame,
the problem of water removal
is on an extreme scale.
An average downpour means
nearly 7,000 gallons of water
must be drained away.
-[ Speaking French ]
- Notre Dame's architects
had the brilliant idea
of using the tops of the
flying buttresses as gutters.
[ Thunder rumbles ]
- As the flying buttresses
are hollowed out,
they are then connected,
forming a large network
for water collection.
Throughout the system,
water shoots outof the
gargoyle statues' mouths,
away from the church walls.
♪♪
This effective drainage system,
restored by Viollet-le-Duc
and maintained since,
is still at work today.
[ Thunder rumbling, crashing ]
♪♪
Engineering this water removal
system in the Middle Ages
brings spectacular changes
to the cathedral.
The builders dismantle the roof
and raise the church walls
by six and a half feet.
They transform the small
terrace roofs
and rework
the flying buttresses.
The structure supporting the
roof is entirely remounted...
1,200 tons of wood and lead.
And the builders
take the opportunity
to crown Notre Dame
with a spire.
During this new phase,
the windows are expanded
and extended,
a technical exploitthat
puts the building far ahead
of other cathedrals
under construction.
- This is one very obvious way
in which the builders
of Notre Dame modernized
during the process.
- They kept changing their minds.
They had no sense that they were
working in an old tradition.
They were working at
the cutting edge of technology.
♪♪
- In the late 1230s,
the builders
erect the two towers
that anchor the western facade.
At the base of the towers,
Andrew Tallon and Dany Sandron
discovered evidence
of a near-catastrophe.
-[ Speaking French ]
- We realized that once
the first level
of Notre Dame's
western facade was built,
with the portals
and their thousands of tons
of assembled stone,
it tilted forward a little.
-[ Concludes in French ]
[ Beeping ]
- This outward tilting
is visible to the naked eye
from the surrounding area.
The weight of the wall,
with its heavily decorated
portals and massive towers,
has caused the ground
beneath to shift.
- [ Speaking French ]
- What can be done?
Not much, other than
wait and see
how it behaves over time.
- [ Speaking French ]
- We can imagine the dread
of the architect
and his collaborators,
wondering whether
they could continue building.
- Probably the ground
will compress
and the facade will stop moving,
and they can start building
the upper sections.
- So the upper levels
are straightened...
[ Beeping ]
...and by chance, the ground
had indeed stabilized.
♪♪
- One can only imagine
how medieval Parisians
viewed their new cathedral
as it neared completion.
♪♪
- We should put ourselves
in the shoes of people
from the Middle Ages,
who would catch sight
of the cathedral
in the urban landscape,
lose sight of it in the city,
then come upon
the enormous facade
at a distance
of a few dozen meters,
in this incredibly
reduced church square.
-[ Inhales sharply ]
♪♪
- But a cathedral is not only
something we see, but we hear.
[ Bell rings, distant shouting ]
- The western facade towers
housed heavy bronze bells,
which in medieval times weighed
more than 1,000 pounds.
Over the centuries,
more bells were added,
including one weighing 13 tons.
It would have been difficult
for the limestone walls
to withstand the weight
of the bells.
Instead, the builders
constructed a wooden belfry
inside the towers,
from which to hang the bells.
- When the bells swing,
this flexible wooden framework
absorbs the strain,
protecting the upper sections
of the towers
from exposure to vibration
and deterioration.
[ Bells ringing loudly ]
- In the Middle Ages,
the church's bells kept time
and marked the rhythms
of daily life in Paris.
[ Ringing continues ]
They rang when it was
time to wake up,
and when work was finished.
And they warned of dangers
and tolled during celebrations.
[ Ringing continues ]
- [ Speaking French ]
- Some examples are astonishing.
For instance, to mark the birth
of the heir
to the French throne,
the bells could ring
uninterrupted for three days
and three nights.
That means you can't sleep
in Paris during that period.
People celebrated, of course.
♪♪
- By the 1240s, the cathedral
has the general form
that remains today.
But construction continues on.
The builders enlarge
the transept
and transform two of its walls
with gigantic rose windows
more than 40 feet across.
Architecturally, this marks
the beginning of a new era.
- [ Speaking German ]
- The transept's rose windows
are the most complex aspect
of architecture.
- Who was the architect?
The base of the south
transept's wall
reveals the identity
of the man responsible
for the design of both the
northern and southern facades.
- "The year 1257 of our Lord,
12th February.
This was begun in honor
of the mother of Christ
"by Master Jean de Chelles,
a mason in his lifetime."
- Based on this inscription,
historians have long attributed
the northern facade
and the beginning
of the southern facade
to Jean de Chelles.
- There is no source
or description.
All we know about the facades
of Paris
comes from
the facades themselves.
[ Beeping ]
- Albrecht's team recently
scanned and analyzed
the transept facades.
♪♪
-[ Speaking German ]
- After much work,
we identified the exact plans
of the facades.
We wondered what could be
deduced from them.
We superposed the two plans,
and surprisingly discovered
they were exactly identical.
-[ Concludes in German ]
- Identical facades indicate
they were built using
the same plan,
and confirms Jean de Chelles
was responsible.
♪♪
-[ Speaking German ]
- If we analyze the transept,
the two facades
must clearly date
from the same period,
meaning two different workshops
worked simultaneously.
- Two workshops
working at the same time
from the same plan.
In the mid-13th century,
the organization of the building
site has become more elaborate,
and its productions
increasingly advanced.
- Within Notre Dame itself,
we can witness
a profound transition.
We're getting into a level
of conscious design,
and that has to do with
using stone in this new way.
Using stone so that it's
no longer laid horizontally,
but rather can becomea
membrane, like a spider's web.
We're in a very
evolved profession,
one that is much more
concerned with geometry,
and the use of
certain kinds of tools,
for example the compass,
to generate design ideas.
- The term "architect" is not
used in the 13th century,
but this new generation
of master builders
is making advances.
They now rely on moresophisticated
methods and tools.
The complexity of this
rose window,
with its thin veining
measuring just 20 centimeters
in diameter, is obvious.
Each petal is identical,
repeating the same
design elements.
The petals are held in place
by the tracery,
the stonework that outlines
the glass panes.
In turn, the stones of
the tracery are held together
with metal pieces.
The 80 glass medallions
are contained in iron hoops.
♪♪
Like the metalsmiths,
glaziers also get to work.
Each rose contains
nearly 600 square feet of glass.
♪♪
Glassworks produce disks
of colored glass
that are then cut
in the workshop
and assembled on drawings
of the same scale.
♪♪
The glass that makes up
scenic elements
is outlined with gray paint,
which produces
a multi-dimensional effect.
These panes seem fragile,
but those in the north rose
window have resisted wind,
extreme temperatures,
and even the fire of 2019.
This area of the cathedral
is finished around 1270.
- Imagine the peasants coming
in for the service.
They're going to think
it's a miracle
that something could be built
this big and this beautiful.
♪♪
- In the late 13th century,
chapels are built
up to the buttresses.
♪♪
After more than a century,
general construction
comes to an end...
♪♪
...although the cathedral
continues to be embellished.
♪♪
These stone panels are added
to enclose the sanctuary.
And then,
as the 13th century closes,
Gothic architecture
falls out of favor,
marking the beginning of a long
break in work on the cathedral.
♪♪
Notre Dame weathers
the next several centuries,
but falls into disrepair
and is even vandalized
during the Revolution of 1789.
But by the early 19th century,
the church is taking on a more
significant role in civic life.
- People go there because
it's large, it can host crowds,
and it's suited to
political communication,
including for the king.
[ Somber organ music playing ]
- In 1804, Napoleon holds
his coronation there.
♪♪
- Napoleon creates a new dynasty,
and with it a new sanctuary,
one that is conveniently urban,
civic, and popular.
♪♪
[ Bell tolls ]
- When Napoleon falls in 1815,
the church returns
to the shadows.
But a popular novel changes
Notre Dame's place in history.
Victor Hugo's
"The Hunchback of Notre Dame"
is published in 1831.
♪♪
- It's really Victor Hugo
who makes it a personality,
makes it a character.
I mean, it is a central figure
in his novel,
and it is an image of a huge,
brooding, mysterious,
complicated structure.
- The book transports
19th-century Parisians
back to the Paris
of the Middle Ages,
alongside
the beautiful Esmeralda
and the hunchback Quasimodo.
- It is a Paris of crowds,
of the rabble, common people,
small merchants, little shops.
It's a legendary Middle Ages
that combines
a bit of everything,
a romantic Middle Ages.
- The novel is a huge
bestseller,
and it transforms
how Parisians
view their cathedral.
- It is odd that it took
a novel for people
to suddenly appreciate the value
of something that had been
before their eyes for 700 years.
If Victor Hugo hadn't sounded
the alarm for the cathedral,
if we had let things be,
the cathedral
would not be standing.
♪♪
- The general
and prevailing taste
is not in favor
of the Middle Ages.
People like simple and spare
forms, with Euclidian volumes.
- But a shift in how
Parisians feel
about Gothic architecture
is underway.
- Victor Hugo says,
"This classical architecture,"
it's not our architecture.
It's Greek and Roman.
What's French architecture,
what's national architecture,
is Gothic.
"It is Notre-Dame de Paris."
- Gothic architecture...
With Notre Dame as its beacon...
Becomes synonymous with the idea
of a national French identity
and its culture.
For the country's leaders,
using culture is a way for them
to establish legitimacy.
- This is a very
19th-century dynamic...
After the revolutionary abyss
and the imperial experience,
to combine and balance elites
and the people.
-[ Continues in French ]
- Notre Dame is clearly
among those sites
that are both popular
and prestigious.
- So there is every reason
to launch a media campaign
in favor of
Notre Dame's restoration.
- By 1844, another major
restoration is underway,
led by Jean-Baptiste Lassus
and Eugène Viollet-le-Duc.
While Lassus has many years
of experience,
it is Viollet-le-Ducwho has
the creative brilliance.
And when Lassus passes away
in 1857,
Viollet-le-Duc's genius shines.
The challenge is to decide
what spirit or sensibility
should guide the restoration.
- It was an entirely
new discipline at the time.
Until the time
of Viollet-le-Duc,
monuments were repaired,
not restored.
-[ Continues in French ]
- So when a chapel was needed,
it was built
in the style of the period.
That's why we have cathedrals
with 14th-century chapels,
18th-century sacristies,
and elements
from the Renaissance.
This produced a, shall we say,
heterogeneous monument.
♪♪
- Viollet-le-Duc's team
starts small.
-[ Speaking French ]
- The two architects were
initially very prudent.
They did not want to make
careless restorations.
They proposed making as few
as possible.
- Good.
- In the first phase
of the project,
the architects reinforce
the fragile sections,
and reconstruct the flying
buttresses, one after another.
♪♪
- Viollet-le-Duc's obsession is,
like an archeologist,
to find the building's logic
in the stones and their shapes.
- The restoration provides
an opportunity
to study the building
from top to bottom.
It is Viollet-le-Duc
who discovers
most of what we know
about the cathedral today.
The remains of one of the smallrose
windows lead Viollet-le-Duc
to determine
what the nave's upper windows
looked like originally.
♪♪
He sees that the upper windows'
columns did not extend
all the way downwhen the
church was first built.
Instead, the columns were capped
with small rose windows
known as oculi,
whose remains he had found.
It does not matter
to Viollet-le-Duc
that this change was made
in the early 13th century
to allow more light
into the cathedral.
He wants to restore the church
to its original
12th-century state.
- His passion for Notre Dame
is all the greater,
since it's a laboratory
for understanding
the principles of Gothic art,
and bringing them to light,
to the public.
-[ Concludes in French ]
- He reworked the vaults.
He redid the facing.
He reinstalled
a water drainage system,
so the flying buttresses
with their gargoyles.
He added decorations that may
seem superfluous,
such as crockets,
finials, pinnacles, and so on.
♪♪
- Viollet-le-Duc rebuilds
the original windows
for the transept.
He has the chapels painted,
new railings cast for the altar,
and also builds a sacristy.
He rethinks every detailof
the decoration and furniture.
The church is now his manifesto
of Neo-Gothic architecture.
- He even made objects
for worship,
such as wafer boxes
and chalices.
So he started with the structure
and ended with doorknobs.
That's the work
of Viollet-le-Duc.
- To reinforce the south
rose window,
which is in danger
of collapsing,
Viollet-le-Duc rotates it
by one half petal.
- So in the popular imagination,
it's Viollet-le-Duc
that counts as much,
or maybe even more
than the actual
medieval building.
♪♪
- The architect
covers the cathedral
with a profusion
of fantastical decorations
that have shaped
the cathedral's image...
The Disney cartoon
and other fantasies.
♪♪
♪♪
- Notre Dame's medieval spire
was taken down
in the late 18th century.
Rare drawings from the time
show its modest shape.
But Viollet-le-Duc imagines
a new spire.
It is twice the size
of the first one.
The architect wants to make
Notre Dame
the tallest monument in Paris.
- This is why he's depicted in
a caricature with a giant head
and small body,
a small, ridiculous cathedral
in his hand
with a never-ending spire.
♪♪
- Metal is the obvious choice
of material for the spire.
But Viollet-le-Duc
has something else in mind...
Wood, just as in
the Middle Ages.
The builders have a complex
system for representing
three-dimensional objects
in two dimensions.
A flattened full-scale template
is drawn
and laid out on the floor
of the carpenter's workshop.
Then, they cut the beams
the same size
as dictated by the template.
♪♪
This technical exploit
is completed in 1859,
rising 300 feet
and surpassing the largest
monuments of Paris.
♪♪
And as Baron Haussmann
transforms Paris
into the modern city
we know today...
Notre Dame becomes a permanent
part of the landscape.
♪♪
- Paris becomes modernized
and "de-medievalized,"
because most of
the medieval buildings
that were still standing
disappeared at this time.
The entire neighborhood
surrounding the square
disappears to make room
for the large esplanade
that heightens its perspective
and monumentality.
-[ Concludes in French ]
- Notre Dame now takes center
stage before a large square.
The cathedral is a mixture
of medieval architecture
and Viollet-le-Duc's
interpretation
of medieval architecture.
- The 12th and 13th century
cathedral is still there.
It's absolutely everywhere.
We must stop thinking that
Viollet-le-Duc
was a somewhat
crazy medieval poet.
Not at all.
Viollet-le-Duc
was a great master.
- He loved medieval architecture.
I mean, that's the important
thing, isn't it?
Viollet-le-Duc's restorations
came out of his love
of what had been there before.
[ Bells toll ]
♪♪
- I would have liked
Viollet-le-Duc to have left
a little more of the unevenness
and irregularity
that would have been visible.
But on the other hand,
I think in terms of...
Can I put it this way?
The sex appeal of Notre-Dame,
Viollet-le-Duc
was fantastic, of course.
♪♪
- The cathedral is added
to the list
of historic monuments in 1862.
♪♪
- [ Speaking French ]
- When Notre Dame
is classified in 1862,
this includes the conservation
work over the centuries,
and Viollet-le-Duc's
revelatory work
surrounding Gothic art itself.
[ Bells toll ]
♪♪
- The building that becomes
a part of French heritage
is a hybrid monument.
It is both the work of builders
from the Middle Ages,
and the ideal cathedral
of a 19th-century architect.
♪♪
700 years after laying
the first stone,
the cathedral
of a provincial city
has become the beacon
of a major capital.
[ Gunshots ]
- In the 20th century,
she witnesses the major events
in French history.
♪♪
Her bells toll
for trying moments.
♪♪
Day after day,
she serves as the setting
for thousands of memories.
♪♪
She is one of the world's
most-visited monuments.
♪♪
With today's major project
of reconstruction,
the long saga
of the builders continues.
♪♪
The restoration work
will certainly lead
to new discoveries.
But what principles
should it follow?
And what mark should we leave?
♪♪
♪♪
- It is the world's
most famous cathedral.
Majestic and inspiring,
this marvel
of Gothic architecture
seemed to defy time.
But in 2019, the world
would discover
just how fragile she was.
[ Thuds loudly ]
- One of the things we learned
on the 15th of April
was how much Notre Dame means
to people all over the world.
- When construction began
in the 12th century,
people didn't use
cranes or drills,
not even wheelbarrows.
Notre Dame is a pinnacle
of human achievement.
- We must put ourselves
in the shoes of people
from the Middle Ages.
It was far too ambitious.
- These medieval builders
were pushing the boundaries
of what was possible.
♪♪
- They were working at
the cutting edge of technology.
- Flying buttresses,
50 feet long.
Huge rose windows,
the largest at the time.
- They are the most complex
aspect of architecture.
- It is a reinvention
of stone architecture.
- Spanning eight centuries,
the history of Notre Dame
includes repairs, restoration,
and expansion.
- If we'd let things be,
the cathedral
would not be standing.
- Victor Hugo made the cathedral
a part of
the popular imagination.
Eugène Viollet-le-Duc's
19th-century renovations
improved on the original
Gothic architecture.
- Viollet-le-Duc's obsession isto
uncover the building's logic,
like an archeologist.
- Now, historians, engineers,
and archaeologists
have undertaken a comprehensive
study of the great church.
- What problems did masons,
stonecutters,
and quarrymen face?
We follow the same path
as the builders.
- The hope is to understand
how Notre Dame
became the queen of cathedrals.
- The building sites
of the Middle Ages
were like Silicon Valley
in California today.
That was where everything new
was discovered.
All the innovations
that were so important.
♪♪
- "Building Notre Dame."
♪♪
- In the middle of
the 12th century,
Paris is not yet a capital city.
Despite its dynamic economy,
it has just 40,000 citizens.
And its cathedral
is a modest one...
St. Etienne
on the île de la Cité.
- Paris has to do something.
They cannot leave
the old buildings as they were.
They must think about
making themselves visible.
- One man believes a new
cathedral will be key
in making Paris
an important city.
In 1160, Maurice de Sully
is elected Bishop of Paris
and oversees the diocese
from St. Etienne.
- Maurice de Sully
is the Bishop of Paris
between 1160 and 1196,
a very long bishopric
of 36 years.
Reconstructing the cathedral
is his initiative.
He is the key figure
who harnessed the energy
for this unprecedented
construction project.
-[ Concludes in French ]
- De Sully is from
a modest background,
but is clearly a man
of great ambition,
and as bishop, he also has the
power to accomplish his plans.
- If you think about these things
as political gestures,
as gestures of assertion
and identity,
we understand the scale
of this building much better.
- One can imagine de Sully's
ambition rising
like Notre Dame's
vaulted ceiling,
more than 100 feet in the air.
-[ Speaking French ]
- It is hard to appreciate
these proportions,
because inside everything
feels harmonious and logical.
But the building
is absolutely enormous.
It is 130 meters long.
The nave is as wide as a bus.
And vertically, you can fit
an airliner in the nave.
-[ Speaking foreign language ]
- The blessing of Notre Dame's
first stone
takes place
in the spring of 1163
in the presence
of both Pope Alexander III
and French King Louis VII,
two of Europe's
most powerful men.
- Maurice de Sully seems to be
working closely with Louis VII.
He involves the king
in the great event
of the laying
of the first stone,
with the Pope as well.
It's a kind of meeting
of church and state.
♪♪
- We place our church
under the protection
of the Virgin Mary,
the mother of Christ.
It will be called be
Notre Dame Cathedral...
Notre Dame de Paris.
- Changing traditions
in the Catholic Church
inspire the cathedral's
new name... Our Lady.
Veneration of the Virgin Mary
is flourishing at the time.
In the 12th century,
the mother of Christ becomes
a central figure in the liturgy,
especially in Paris.
- She is the mother.
The Virgin Mary has a role
of being accessible,
understanding,
and also being an intercessor.
This is so important.
Imagine, of course,
that medicine
is practically unknown
except for herbal practices,
etcetera.
So the sympathetic intercession
of the Virgin
seems especially important.
♪♪
- In the Middle Ages,
life revolves around
religious duties and practices.
Some part of the original
St. Etienne church
needs to remain open
during the construction
of Notre Dame
so that nine daily masses
can still be offered.
Everything about the new
building is designed
for the purpose
of worshipping God.
The main areas of the church...
The sanctuary and altar,
transept and nave...
Form the shape of a cross
with the sanctuary
symbolizing the head of Christ.
It faces east to welcome
the first rays of the sun.
[ Birds chirping ]
Before the foundation
can be laid,
the builders must first dig out
the soil of île de la Cité,
the island
in the middle of the Seine.
- The goal is to prevent
the building from sinking.
So they dig until they hit
very compact soil,
presumably until they reach
the Seine's
former alluvial deposits,
9 meters below today's sidewalk.
Most probably, they dug out
the height of a house,
with a ground floor
and two stories...
A truly colossal undertaking
with pickaxes and buckets.
♪♪
- The trenches are then filled
with hundreds of tons
of roughly cut stone blocks
to strengthen the foundations
and support the cathedral's
colossal weight.
But Notre Dame is just
one of many churches
built during this period.
- The first thing to understand
about the age of the cathedrals
is that from about 1000 to 1300,
it was warmer than usual.
Just as we have ice ages,
we also have warm ages.
And when there's a warm age,
there are more crops,
people get richer,
and they have some spare money.
So one of the reasons
the cathedrals were built
was that Europeans had
more money than previously.
♪♪
- An architectural revolution
is underway in France.
In the 1140s, a portion
of the Saint-Denis Abbey
located north of Paris
is rebuilt.
Walls are replaced
with large bays of windows.
♪♪
-[ Speaking French ]
- The light is tinted
by the stained glass,
which depicts religious scenes
and characters.
This gave people a sense of
thehigher reality of the hereafter,
of paradise and God.
- We should see this architecture
as spacious and full of light.
No one had seen
anything like it.
- Maurice de Sully is
obviously very aware
of what is going on around him.
- And Maurice de Sully's project
takes advantage
of these innovations.
Notre Dame unites all
the characteristics
of Gothic architecture
in a single building
for the first time.
The shape of the Gothic arch
makes it possible
to build taller buildings.
And the ribbed vaults
in the ceiling distribute
the weight
of the roof onto pillars,
allowing the walls
to be opened up with windows.
Outside the church walls,
the flying buttresses...
The largest of their time...
Absorb the horizontal thrust.
-[ Speaking French ]
- Notre Dame includes elements
developed on earlier projects,
but surpasses them all
through its enormous scale.
-[ Continues in French ]
- To keep such a slender
structure in balance,
certain techniques
had to be perfect,
such as the extraordinary use
of flying buttresses measuring
15 meters long.
The daring nature
of this architecture
is still appreciable today.
♪♪
- It must have seemed like
an impossible task
to the builders
of the Middle Ages.
But Notre Dame's location
gives it an advantage
in one important area...
Transporting materials would
have been far too expensive.
Fortunately, the site is near
several limestone quarries.
- The stone is excellent.
- It's underneath your feet.
So Gothic really had
to happen here.
- The abundance of limestone
means it can be used
in many different ways.
- Île-de-France has a thick layer
of accessible limestone,
but depending on the depth,
you find limestone
with different
mechanical properties.
-[ Continues in French ]
- One location provides
limestone for columns,
which are massive
and bear heavy loads,
and another for delicate
sculptures.
♪♪
- The limestone quarries
are located
along the banks
of Paris's rivers.
♪♪
- And limestone isn't
the only important material
needed at the construction site.
Wood is just as crucial.
- The most important material
is firstly wood.
For the framework,
for the form work...
...wood for scaffoldings...
wood for carts...
and tools.
Wood is everywhere.
♪♪
- There is a unique site
in Burgundy where we can see
how medieval builders
relied on wood.
Here, a 12th-century chateau
is being rebuilt
using only methods
from the time period.
- When the group began their work
20 years ago,
they knew large quantities
of wood would be needed...
First for the scaffolding.
Initially, the scaffolding
was built on stands.
But above a certain height,
medieval builders developed
an ingenious system
to hang these supporting frames
from the wall.
-[ Speaking French ]
- During medieval times,
scaffolding was mostly hung
from walls using putlogs,
a piece of wood
that sticks into the wall
and serves as a ledge
to hold up planks.
-[ Continues in French ]
- This installation set the pace
for each successive stage
of wall construction.
- The holes used to attach beams
in the 12th century
are still visible on the walls
of Notre Dame today.
The need to lift
the heavy limestone blocks
up several stories,
without the use
of a modern crane,
leads to another innovation.
Using an illustration
from a 14th-century Bible,
the Burgundy team
has built a machine
that would have enabled medieval
builders to lift heavy loads...
...a dual treadwheel crane,
operated by two people.
♪♪
-[ Speaking French ]
- This squirrel cage built
on a swivel has a jib arm
with a payload of 500 kilos,
which means each lift
can place up to half a ton
of stone on the walls,
up to a height of 18 meters.
-[ Continues in French ]
- 10 lifts per day adds 5 tons
of material to the walls.
This raw data for the average
building rates
was generated by our experiment.
- And limestone isn't the only
material that must be
brought up to the builders.
Vast quantities of mortar
must also be lifted
to the tops of the walls
and scaffolding.
The mortar binds each of
the blocks to create walls,
and when mixed with gravel,
fills the interior
to provide greater
strength and stability,
which has helped the cathedral
stand for more than 800 years.
♪♪
The mortar mixers of Burgundy have
developed their own method.
Mortar is a delicate blend
of sand, water, and lime.
It is indispensable
for construction,
but fickle to work with.
- Our experiment has shown
that you can use
these mortars in all weather.
We do not work
in freezing conditions
because the lime mortar loses
its mechanical resistance.
It's very difficult to work
during dry periods
and heat waves,
when we have to cover
the masonry
and add water to the mortar.
So medieval construction,
insofar as our experiment
helps us grasp it,
entails almost daily adaptation
to climate and weather.
- After more than 15 years
of construction,
the builders have completed
the altar and its sanctuary.
It is three stories high,
and measures 100 feet tall.
And the construction crew
was smaller
than one might imagine...
Only a few dozen people
at a given time.
- This varied over time,
and according to the season.
The building site
was not isolated,
as there are people workingin
quarries and forests as well.
-[ Continues in French ]
- It is surrounded by an entire
industrial system
that makes this construction
process possible.
-[ Concludes in French ]
- [ Grunts ]
- [ Shouting in French ]
[ Indistinct conversations ]
♪♪
- Building Notre Dame is
an organizational challenge
unlike any other.
To ensure the construction
runs smoothly,
de Sully and the other
church leaders work together
as what we would think of asa
project management team today.
Managing the budget
and hiring technical experts
are things
this group would handle.
♪♪
[ Box thuds softly ]
Most importantly, the team
hires the master builder,
the equivalent of an architect.
Without written records
for Notre Dame,
the best way to understand
the role of the master builder
is to look at
a master builder's contract
for another nearby cathedral.
-[ Speaking French ]
- Contracts stipulate thatthe
master builder must be loyal
to the contracting authority.
- Your Grace.
- That he cannot
accept work elsewhere,
or leave with the plans.
If he's sick,
he will not be paid.
During the Middle Ages,
people are paid in sols,
in sous, and in tournois pounds,
but also received a great deal
of their pay in kind...
Housing, firewood, and clothing.
[ Grunting ]
- The identity of Notre Dame's
master builder is unknown.
It is the craftsmen
at the construction site
who lead the Gothic revolution,
not academics.
- The innovations
of Gothic construction
were not made by intellectuals,
they were not made
in universities.
They were made by men
who worked with their hands.
- The master builder of
a medieval building site
in the 12th and 13th centuries
is firstly
an incredible artisan.
An artisan with experience
in the cost of materials
and know-how...
[ Hammering ]
...in transmission,
and knowing how to lead people.
He's an entrepreneur
who inspires his team.
- With all of the different
industries
and tradesmen involved,
a precise organizational
structure with clear rules
is the only way they can
all work together successfully.
- Each trade has a master leader
who usually possesses
expensive tools.
♪♪
- For younger workers, training
lasts for several years,
during which they are paid.
These groups were
the predecessors
of today's unions
and apprentice programs.
- You have a multigenerational
situation
where young people are learning
from old people
who have experience.
And new ideas are introduced.
The way of building is modified
as time goes on, and you...
It must have been
an extraordinarily exciting
environment to be in.
- One difficult question
to answer
is how much the construction
of Notre Dame cost.
Any price tag would have
to include materials,
much of which was likely
theproperty of the Catholic Church.
And labor was often paid
at least
partially in kind
with room and board.
When compared with
other buildings of the time,
historians have suggested
the cathedral
cost roughly 150,000 pounds,
though it is hard
to convert that to an amount
in today's dollars.
For the sake of comparison,
de Sully,
one of the richest men in Paris,
donated 100 pounds
to the project.
-[ Speaking French ]
- 100 pounds compared to
a total cost
of 150,000 pounds or more.
Occasional financing,
such as the donations
from major figures
we find in the archives,
was not enough
to finance construction.
-[ Woman vocalizing ]
- The diocese could rely on
income from its land
in the Paris Basin.
- The diocese of Paris,
which corresponds to the heart
of today's île de France,
is an incredibly rich area.
It also has substantial
real estate holdings in Paris.
Until the early 13th century,
the bishop claimed ownership
over the land
between the Rue Saint-Denis
and the hill at Chaillot.
This includes practically
one-quarter of today's Paris,
and it came with royalties
providing considerable
financial revenue.
- But not of all of the income
derived from church
real estate holdings
would be spent on Notre Dame.
- May God be with you.
- De Sully develops
other methods
to finance his grand project.
- God bless you.
- Thank you, Father.
- [ Speaking French ]
- Maurice de Sully is not
against using stratagems
to raise more funds.
-[ Continues in French ]
- He issues indulgences,
documents that granted sinners
remission from punishment
in exchange for payment.
Rather than making
a pilgrimage to Rome
or Santiago de Compostela,
the sinner simply paid a sum.
-[ Concludes in French ]
- Lord, forgive me...
- The bishop is willing
to issue indulgences
to people who've committed
a range of sins.
His priority is financing
his cathedral.
- On the one hand, you have
an ambitious bishop
who understands
the representational
role of the cathedral.
On the other hand,
you have people who say,
"But Christ was poor.
Blessed are the poor.
We should give away
what we have."
So you always had this tension
within the church
between expenditure
on delightful buildings
and charity and generosity.
And this is a complicated issue.
♪♪
- While some people may frown
on de Sully's methods,
the donations are a way
to involve the community
in the church's construction.
- If the cathedral sparks such
fascination among the people,
it's because
they can relate to it.
This doesn't mean they
took part in construction,
but they helped finance it.
I believe this contributes
to the greatness
of these buildings.
- Five years after
its construction is completed,
the altar is consecrated in 1182
and is available
for church services.
-[ Speaking French ]
- A temporary partition
of timber or plaster
was probably used
to insulate the choir
so that religious life
can continue,
while building continues
in the transept and nave.
♪♪
- The King!
- The second phase
of construction begins
during the reign
of Philippe Auguste,
with whom de Sully
had a close relationship.
- Your Grace.
- Philippe.
- How is your cathedral
coming along?
- More importantly, the king
makes Paris his capital.
And the fate of Notre Dame
changes dramatically
as a result.
Determined to improve
the city's standing,
Philippe Auguste
begins construction
on a fortified city wall as well
as the Château du Louvre.
During his reign, France becomes
the leading European power,
and the population
of Paris expands.
- Therefore, there is
a self-consciousness of Paris.
The walls are important in that.
The cathedral
is important in that.
The Royal Palace,
the abbey of the temple,
where they are keeping
the financial records...
All these institutional
settings in the city
collaborate, right,
in the creation of the idea,
"This is the center."
And that happened then,
and it's still the case now.
♪♪
- As Paris prospers under
Philippe Auguste,
the builders accomplish one of
their most difficult tasks...
The vaulted stone arches
that make up the ceiling.
- This is one of the mysteries
of cathedral construction,
because it's probably
the most complex process...
Firstly, because
they are very high,
so you have to work at a height.
And because they take the shape
of a formwork
that has not survived.
- Wooden rafters
sit on stone pillars.
Then, stone blocks are placed
on top of the rafters
to form the vault's ribs.
Once the arches are in place,
their blocks are cut to fit
and lock with the keystone.
Lastly, more stone blocks
fill in and enclose the vaults.
- The revolutionary ceiling
is a stunning achievement,
and construction continues on.
The transept is completed
in the 1190s.
♪♪
Maurice de Sully, who launched
this grand project
and oversaw it for 30 years,
dies in 1196.
-[ Speaking French ]
- I don't think anyone who saw
the start of construction
imagined that
they would see the end.
♪♪
- The next major task
for the builders
is to raise the western facade,
with its magnificent
portal entrances.
- [ Speaking German ]
- The portals connect
the inside and outside
of the cathedral.
They symbolize the transition
from earthly life
to the hereafter,
to heavenly life.
-[ Continues in German ]
- That is the purpose
of the Church...
To connect heaven and earth.
-[ Concludes in German ]
-[ Speaking French ]
- These great series of portals
are sometimes called
"stone bibles,"
with subjects relating
to Christ, the Virgin Mary,
and saints.
This dates back to
Pope Gregory the Great
in the late 6th century,
who promoted figurative
decoration
for an illiterate public
that did not have access
to the Gospels or the Bible.
-[ Concludes in French ]
♪♪
-[ Speaking German ]
- Designing the portals
required close cooperation
between intellectuals,
namely clergymen and artists,
since clergymen established
the sculptural plans
to be produced for the portal.
-[ Continues in German ]
- This probably took the form
of discussions such as,
"No, let's move the Christ
a little higher.
It will be more in harmony
with the Virgin Mary."
Something along those lines.
- Hundreds of statues decorate
the lower half
of the immense wall.
♪♪
In the 13th century,
Parisian sculpture
becomes more refined,
with more delicate drapery
andincreasingly lively expressions.
The Gallery of Kings,
28 statues
that sit above the portals,
have an unprecedented
level of detail.
Each statue is nearly
10 feet tall
and stands 40 feet
off the ground.
And they suggest a greater
understanding of perspective,
well before its formaltheorization
in the Renaissance.
Both the bodies and the heads
of the kings
are larger than possible
in nature,
but when seen from the ground,
they appear normal.
- I wouldn't call it perspective
in the technical sense,
but certainly an empirical
understanding
of the appearance of things
as seen from a certain angle.
-[ Speaking French ]
- The statues of kings
in the gallery
are at a height of 12 meters.
The faithful visiting during
the Middle Ages
had little room to step back.
The church square was
incredibly shallow,
just 35 meters deep.
So one could only observe
the statues standing very close
to the portals.
♪♪
- The statues of kings that
decorate the cathedral today
were designed by
Eugène Viollet-le-Duc
in the 19th century.
But an analysis of the remains
of the original
13th-century statues has
revealed something surprising.
- [ Speaking German ]
- We had already analyzed
the west facade,
and found color everywhere.
This means the cathedral
must have been multicolored.
We noticed that there were
multiple layers of color.
This means that it was not
painted just one time,
but constantly repainted,
and certainly
in a different way.
♪♪
- During the Middle Ages,
Notre Dame's facades
were covered with colorful paint
and even gold.
- It is proven, these colors
were very bright...
Bright red, bright yellow,
bright green.
Quite shocking to our eyes,
which are much more accustomed
to a very monochromatic
appearance.
♪♪
- I think if we could go back
in a time machine
and see Notre Dame in,
let's say the 13th century,
we might have said,
"Oh, too bright!"
[ Laughs ]
♪♪
- The disappearance
of the bright colors
is a reminder
of all the cathedral
has witnessed
in her eight centuries.
♪♪
-[ Speaking French ]
- Cathedral construction
is subject
to many unforeseen events...
Work stops during
extremely cold weather,
frost threatens the masonry
before the mortar dries.
♪♪
The Seine regularly
bursts its banks,
potentially paralyzing
the surrounding area.
- The church has survived
all kinds of disasters,
from floods
to political violence.
♪♪
- Cathedrals are built as a kind
of triumph over adversity.
- After 60 years, as they near
what they believe
is the end of construction,
the builders realize
their work of art
has a significant flaw
that might endanger its future.
- There were no gutters,
no system for collecting
rainwater.
- Water has always been
the great enemy of architects.
- Water running down
the exterior walls
of the cathedral seeps into
and erodes the stone
and causes cracks when frozen.
For a building the size
of Notre Dame,
the problem of water removal
is on an extreme scale.
An average downpour means
nearly 7,000 gallons of water
must be drained away.
-[ Speaking French ]
- Notre Dame's architects
had the brilliant idea
of using the tops of the
flying buttresses as gutters.
[ Thunder rumbles ]
- As the flying buttresses
are hollowed out,
they are then connected,
forming a large network
for water collection.
Throughout the system,
water shoots outof the
gargoyle statues' mouths,
away from the church walls.
♪♪
This effective drainage system,
restored by Viollet-le-Duc
and maintained since,
is still at work today.
[ Thunder rumbling, crashing ]
♪♪
Engineering this water removal
system in the Middle Ages
brings spectacular changes
to the cathedral.
The builders dismantle the roof
and raise the church walls
by six and a half feet.
They transform the small
terrace roofs
and rework
the flying buttresses.
The structure supporting the
roof is entirely remounted...
1,200 tons of wood and lead.
And the builders
take the opportunity
to crown Notre Dame
with a spire.
During this new phase,
the windows are expanded
and extended,
a technical exploitthat
puts the building far ahead
of other cathedrals
under construction.
- This is one very obvious way
in which the builders
of Notre Dame modernized
during the process.
- They kept changing their minds.
They had no sense that they were
working in an old tradition.
They were working at
the cutting edge of technology.
♪♪
- In the late 1230s,
the builders
erect the two towers
that anchor the western facade.
At the base of the towers,
Andrew Tallon and Dany Sandron
discovered evidence
of a near-catastrophe.
-[ Speaking French ]
- We realized that once
the first level
of Notre Dame's
western facade was built,
with the portals
and their thousands of tons
of assembled stone,
it tilted forward a little.
-[ Concludes in French ]
[ Beeping ]
- This outward tilting
is visible to the naked eye
from the surrounding area.
The weight of the wall,
with its heavily decorated
portals and massive towers,
has caused the ground
beneath to shift.
- [ Speaking French ]
- What can be done?
Not much, other than
wait and see
how it behaves over time.
- [ Speaking French ]
- We can imagine the dread
of the architect
and his collaborators,
wondering whether
they could continue building.
- Probably the ground
will compress
and the facade will stop moving,
and they can start building
the upper sections.
- So the upper levels
are straightened...
[ Beeping ]
...and by chance, the ground
had indeed stabilized.
♪♪
- One can only imagine
how medieval Parisians
viewed their new cathedral
as it neared completion.
♪♪
- We should put ourselves
in the shoes of people
from the Middle Ages,
who would catch sight
of the cathedral
in the urban landscape,
lose sight of it in the city,
then come upon
the enormous facade
at a distance
of a few dozen meters,
in this incredibly
reduced church square.
-[ Inhales sharply ]
♪♪
- But a cathedral is not only
something we see, but we hear.
[ Bell rings, distant shouting ]
- The western facade towers
housed heavy bronze bells,
which in medieval times weighed
more than 1,000 pounds.
Over the centuries,
more bells were added,
including one weighing 13 tons.
It would have been difficult
for the limestone walls
to withstand the weight
of the bells.
Instead, the builders
constructed a wooden belfry
inside the towers,
from which to hang the bells.
- When the bells swing,
this flexible wooden framework
absorbs the strain,
protecting the upper sections
of the towers
from exposure to vibration
and deterioration.
[ Bells ringing loudly ]
- In the Middle Ages,
the church's bells kept time
and marked the rhythms
of daily life in Paris.
[ Ringing continues ]
They rang when it was
time to wake up,
and when work was finished.
And they warned of dangers
and tolled during celebrations.
[ Ringing continues ]
- [ Speaking French ]
- Some examples are astonishing.
For instance, to mark the birth
of the heir
to the French throne,
the bells could ring
uninterrupted for three days
and three nights.
That means you can't sleep
in Paris during that period.
People celebrated, of course.
♪♪
- By the 1240s, the cathedral
has the general form
that remains today.
But construction continues on.
The builders enlarge
the transept
and transform two of its walls
with gigantic rose windows
more than 40 feet across.
Architecturally, this marks
the beginning of a new era.
- [ Speaking German ]
- The transept's rose windows
are the most complex aspect
of architecture.
- Who was the architect?
The base of the south
transept's wall
reveals the identity
of the man responsible
for the design of both the
northern and southern facades.
- "The year 1257 of our Lord,
12th February.
This was begun in honor
of the mother of Christ
"by Master Jean de Chelles,
a mason in his lifetime."
- Based on this inscription,
historians have long attributed
the northern facade
and the beginning
of the southern facade
to Jean de Chelles.
- There is no source
or description.
All we know about the facades
of Paris
comes from
the facades themselves.
[ Beeping ]
- Albrecht's team recently
scanned and analyzed
the transept facades.
♪♪
-[ Speaking German ]
- After much work,
we identified the exact plans
of the facades.
We wondered what could be
deduced from them.
We superposed the two plans,
and surprisingly discovered
they were exactly identical.
-[ Concludes in German ]
- Identical facades indicate
they were built using
the same plan,
and confirms Jean de Chelles
was responsible.
♪♪
-[ Speaking German ]
- If we analyze the transept,
the two facades
must clearly date
from the same period,
meaning two different workshops
worked simultaneously.
- Two workshops
working at the same time
from the same plan.
In the mid-13th century,
the organization of the building
site has become more elaborate,
and its productions
increasingly advanced.
- Within Notre Dame itself,
we can witness
a profound transition.
We're getting into a level
of conscious design,
and that has to do with
using stone in this new way.
Using stone so that it's
no longer laid horizontally,
but rather can becomea
membrane, like a spider's web.
We're in a very
evolved profession,
one that is much more
concerned with geometry,
and the use of
certain kinds of tools,
for example the compass,
to generate design ideas.
- The term "architect" is not
used in the 13th century,
but this new generation
of master builders
is making advances.
They now rely on moresophisticated
methods and tools.
The complexity of this
rose window,
with its thin veining
measuring just 20 centimeters
in diameter, is obvious.
Each petal is identical,
repeating the same
design elements.
The petals are held in place
by the tracery,
the stonework that outlines
the glass panes.
In turn, the stones of
the tracery are held together
with metal pieces.
The 80 glass medallions
are contained in iron hoops.
♪♪
Like the metalsmiths,
glaziers also get to work.
Each rose contains
nearly 600 square feet of glass.
♪♪
Glassworks produce disks
of colored glass
that are then cut
in the workshop
and assembled on drawings
of the same scale.
♪♪
The glass that makes up
scenic elements
is outlined with gray paint,
which produces
a multi-dimensional effect.
These panes seem fragile,
but those in the north rose
window have resisted wind,
extreme temperatures,
and even the fire of 2019.
This area of the cathedral
is finished around 1270.
- Imagine the peasants coming
in for the service.
They're going to think
it's a miracle
that something could be built
this big and this beautiful.
♪♪
- In the late 13th century,
chapels are built
up to the buttresses.
♪♪
After more than a century,
general construction
comes to an end...
♪♪
...although the cathedral
continues to be embellished.
♪♪
These stone panels are added
to enclose the sanctuary.
And then,
as the 13th century closes,
Gothic architecture
falls out of favor,
marking the beginning of a long
break in work on the cathedral.
♪♪
Notre Dame weathers
the next several centuries,
but falls into disrepair
and is even vandalized
during the Revolution of 1789.
But by the early 19th century,
the church is taking on a more
significant role in civic life.
- People go there because
it's large, it can host crowds,
and it's suited to
political communication,
including for the king.
[ Somber organ music playing ]
- In 1804, Napoleon holds
his coronation there.
♪♪
- Napoleon creates a new dynasty,
and with it a new sanctuary,
one that is conveniently urban,
civic, and popular.
♪♪
[ Bell tolls ]
- When Napoleon falls in 1815,
the church returns
to the shadows.
But a popular novel changes
Notre Dame's place in history.
Victor Hugo's
"The Hunchback of Notre Dame"
is published in 1831.
♪♪
- It's really Victor Hugo
who makes it a personality,
makes it a character.
I mean, it is a central figure
in his novel,
and it is an image of a huge,
brooding, mysterious,
complicated structure.
- The book transports
19th-century Parisians
back to the Paris
of the Middle Ages,
alongside
the beautiful Esmeralda
and the hunchback Quasimodo.
- It is a Paris of crowds,
of the rabble, common people,
small merchants, little shops.
It's a legendary Middle Ages
that combines
a bit of everything,
a romantic Middle Ages.
- The novel is a huge
bestseller,
and it transforms
how Parisians
view their cathedral.
- It is odd that it took
a novel for people
to suddenly appreciate the value
of something that had been
before their eyes for 700 years.
If Victor Hugo hadn't sounded
the alarm for the cathedral,
if we had let things be,
the cathedral
would not be standing.
♪♪
- The general
and prevailing taste
is not in favor
of the Middle Ages.
People like simple and spare
forms, with Euclidian volumes.
- But a shift in how
Parisians feel
about Gothic architecture
is underway.
- Victor Hugo says,
"This classical architecture,"
it's not our architecture.
It's Greek and Roman.
What's French architecture,
what's national architecture,
is Gothic.
"It is Notre-Dame de Paris."
- Gothic architecture...
With Notre Dame as its beacon...
Becomes synonymous with the idea
of a national French identity
and its culture.
For the country's leaders,
using culture is a way for them
to establish legitimacy.
- This is a very
19th-century dynamic...
After the revolutionary abyss
and the imperial experience,
to combine and balance elites
and the people.
-[ Continues in French ]
- Notre Dame is clearly
among those sites
that are both popular
and prestigious.
- So there is every reason
to launch a media campaign
in favor of
Notre Dame's restoration.
- By 1844, another major
restoration is underway,
led by Jean-Baptiste Lassus
and Eugène Viollet-le-Duc.
While Lassus has many years
of experience,
it is Viollet-le-Ducwho has
the creative brilliance.
And when Lassus passes away
in 1857,
Viollet-le-Duc's genius shines.
The challenge is to decide
what spirit or sensibility
should guide the restoration.
- It was an entirely
new discipline at the time.
Until the time
of Viollet-le-Duc,
monuments were repaired,
not restored.
-[ Continues in French ]
- So when a chapel was needed,
it was built
in the style of the period.
That's why we have cathedrals
with 14th-century chapels,
18th-century sacristies,
and elements
from the Renaissance.
This produced a, shall we say,
heterogeneous monument.
♪♪
- Viollet-le-Duc's team
starts small.
-[ Speaking French ]
- The two architects were
initially very prudent.
They did not want to make
careless restorations.
They proposed making as few
as possible.
- Good.
- In the first phase
of the project,
the architects reinforce
the fragile sections,
and reconstruct the flying
buttresses, one after another.
♪♪
- Viollet-le-Duc's obsession is,
like an archeologist,
to find the building's logic
in the stones and their shapes.
- The restoration provides
an opportunity
to study the building
from top to bottom.
It is Viollet-le-Duc
who discovers
most of what we know
about the cathedral today.
The remains of one of the smallrose
windows lead Viollet-le-Duc
to determine
what the nave's upper windows
looked like originally.
♪♪
He sees that the upper windows'
columns did not extend
all the way downwhen the
church was first built.
Instead, the columns were capped
with small rose windows
known as oculi,
whose remains he had found.
It does not matter
to Viollet-le-Duc
that this change was made
in the early 13th century
to allow more light
into the cathedral.
He wants to restore the church
to its original
12th-century state.
- His passion for Notre Dame
is all the greater,
since it's a laboratory
for understanding
the principles of Gothic art,
and bringing them to light,
to the public.
-[ Concludes in French ]
- He reworked the vaults.
He redid the facing.
He reinstalled
a water drainage system,
so the flying buttresses
with their gargoyles.
He added decorations that may
seem superfluous,
such as crockets,
finials, pinnacles, and so on.
♪♪
- Viollet-le-Duc rebuilds
the original windows
for the transept.
He has the chapels painted,
new railings cast for the altar,
and also builds a sacristy.
He rethinks every detailof
the decoration and furniture.
The church is now his manifesto
of Neo-Gothic architecture.
- He even made objects
for worship,
such as wafer boxes
and chalices.
So he started with the structure
and ended with doorknobs.
That's the work
of Viollet-le-Duc.
- To reinforce the south
rose window,
which is in danger
of collapsing,
Viollet-le-Duc rotates it
by one half petal.
- So in the popular imagination,
it's Viollet-le-Duc
that counts as much,
or maybe even more
than the actual
medieval building.
♪♪
- The architect
covers the cathedral
with a profusion
of fantastical decorations
that have shaped
the cathedral's image...
The Disney cartoon
and other fantasies.
♪♪
♪♪
- Notre Dame's medieval spire
was taken down
in the late 18th century.
Rare drawings from the time
show its modest shape.
But Viollet-le-Duc imagines
a new spire.
It is twice the size
of the first one.
The architect wants to make
Notre Dame
the tallest monument in Paris.
- This is why he's depicted in
a caricature with a giant head
and small body,
a small, ridiculous cathedral
in his hand
with a never-ending spire.
♪♪
- Metal is the obvious choice
of material for the spire.
But Viollet-le-Duc
has something else in mind...
Wood, just as in
the Middle Ages.
The builders have a complex
system for representing
three-dimensional objects
in two dimensions.
A flattened full-scale template
is drawn
and laid out on the floor
of the carpenter's workshop.
Then, they cut the beams
the same size
as dictated by the template.
♪♪
This technical exploit
is completed in 1859,
rising 300 feet
and surpassing the largest
monuments of Paris.
♪♪
And as Baron Haussmann
transforms Paris
into the modern city
we know today...
Notre Dame becomes a permanent
part of the landscape.
♪♪
- Paris becomes modernized
and "de-medievalized,"
because most of
the medieval buildings
that were still standing
disappeared at this time.
The entire neighborhood
surrounding the square
disappears to make room
for the large esplanade
that heightens its perspective
and monumentality.
-[ Concludes in French ]
- Notre Dame now takes center
stage before a large square.
The cathedral is a mixture
of medieval architecture
and Viollet-le-Duc's
interpretation
of medieval architecture.
- The 12th and 13th century
cathedral is still there.
It's absolutely everywhere.
We must stop thinking that
Viollet-le-Duc
was a somewhat
crazy medieval poet.
Not at all.
Viollet-le-Duc
was a great master.
- He loved medieval architecture.
I mean, that's the important
thing, isn't it?
Viollet-le-Duc's restorations
came out of his love
of what had been there before.
[ Bells toll ]
♪♪
- I would have liked
Viollet-le-Duc to have left
a little more of the unevenness
and irregularity
that would have been visible.
But on the other hand,
I think in terms of...
Can I put it this way?
The sex appeal of Notre-Dame,
Viollet-le-Duc
was fantastic, of course.
♪♪
- The cathedral is added
to the list
of historic monuments in 1862.
♪♪
- [ Speaking French ]
- When Notre Dame
is classified in 1862,
this includes the conservation
work over the centuries,
and Viollet-le-Duc's
revelatory work
surrounding Gothic art itself.
[ Bells toll ]
♪♪
- The building that becomes
a part of French heritage
is a hybrid monument.
It is both the work of builders
from the Middle Ages,
and the ideal cathedral
of a 19th-century architect.
♪♪
700 years after laying
the first stone,
the cathedral
of a provincial city
has become the beacon
of a major capital.
[ Gunshots ]
- In the 20th century,
she witnesses the major events
in French history.
♪♪
Her bells toll
for trying moments.
♪♪
Day after day,
she serves as the setting
for thousands of memories.
♪♪
She is one of the world's
most-visited monuments.
♪♪
With today's major project
of reconstruction,
the long saga
of the builders continues.
♪♪
The restoration work
will certainly lead
to new discoveries.
But what principles
should it follow?
And what mark should we leave?
♪♪