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> with an extra spire and a few other things With a different spire. Notre Dame used to have a spire until it was removed early in the 19th century. > Notre D

> with an extra spire and a few other things With a different spire. Notre Dame used to have a spire until it was removed early in the 19th century. > Notre Dame has been restored. Not to how it was in 2018, prior the fire ... but to how it was intended when built, with a bit of sympathetic interpretation. This is quite important. It was difficult to reconcile texts talking about how gothic cathedrals were full of light and colours with the aspect of a lot of these cathedrals, which felt dark and dull with their walls and windows blackened and covered in grime. The renovated interior is properly breathtaking. > Well done! Indeed.

ghaff 2y ago
I'll be interested to visit when I'm probably in Paris next spring. Notre Dame always seemed to me more impressive on the outside than the inside where, as you suggest, it felt pretty dark and dull compared to a church like Sainte-Chapelle.
- scientist4397 2y ago
  Another one to see : Notre Dame de Strasbourg Darker, different stones but incredible too
prewett 2y ago
You can see a contrast in pictures of the Chartres restoration. See [1], 5th picture down. The light areas are the restored, painted areas (if I remember correctly, they carefully scraped off the grime with scalpels to reveal the original paint, although I don't know if they did that for the whole surface or just used that information to scrape it off and repaint it). The dark areas are the unrestored areas. After 900 years of smoke from burning candles, and an oil furnace in the 20th century, the surface got pretty dark. The restoration was controversial because some people thought that we should either keep the "patina of age" or they thought that the patina was the natural color of the stone. [1] https://francetoday.com/culture/chartres-the-famous-cathedral-is-newly-restored/ https://francetoday.com/culture/chartres-the-famous-cathedra...

ghaff 2y ago

I'll be interested to visit when I'm probably in Paris next spring. Notre Dame always seemed to me more impressive on the outside than the inside where, as you suggest, it felt pretty dark and dull compared to a church like Sainte-Chapelle.

scientist4397 2y ago
Another one to see : Notre Dame de Strasbourg Darker, different stones but incredible too

prewett 2y ago

You can see a contrast in pictures of the Chartres restoration. See [1], 5th picture down. The light areas are the restored, painted areas (if I remember correctly, they carefully scraped off the grime with scalpels to reveal the original paint, although I don't know if they did that for the whole surface or just used that information to scrape it off and repaint it). The dark areas are the unrestored areas. After 900 years of smoke from burning candles, and an oil furnace in the 20th century, the surface got pretty dark. The restoration was controversial because some people thought that we should either keep the "patina of age" or they thought that the patina was the natural color of the stone. [1] https://francetoday.com/culture/chartres-the-famous-cathedral-is-newly-restored/ https://francetoday.com/culture/chartres-the-famous-cathedra...