The Tragedy of Notre-Dame de Paris

GodefroyParis

By Eric Davis - Posted at The Cripplegate:

I’ll never forget the first time I saw Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. It was the late ‘80s and my first trip to France. My French grandfather, Georges Lycan, had just picked us up from Orly and was giving us a flyby tour of Paris on our way to his country home in the Loire Valley. It was a stunning site of both intimidating grandeur and breathtaking beauty.

As the years went by, I started traveling around France on my own and enjoyed visiting Notre-Dame several more times. I eventually went to school in France at the Universite Catholique de l’Ouest and enjoyed the stunning sites around the country. But Notre-Dame remained at the top. I loved going back to Paris, getting off on the Saint-Michel Notre-Dame metro stop, walking east on Quai Saint-Michel, crossing Pont de Coeurs onto Ile de la Cite, and there they were; the towering, 226-ft tall towers.

I learned to appreciate the cathedral more as I developed an eye for detail. The statued-portals at the entrance. The towering rib-vaulted ceilings. The nave. The stunning, stained-glass rose windows. The spire above the apse. The flying buttresses. The architectural genius of it all. And of course, the thousands of gargoyles. As a French citizen, I, along with many, felt that Notre-Dame was a rich part of our heritage. Needless to say, the burning of the cathedral on Monday was a tragedy.

However, as tragic as the fire of this great structure was, there is a greater tragedy concerning Notre-Dame de Paris.

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