The Cathedral of
Notre Dame de Paris.
Illustration: CRACK TWO
The following Text is from CRACK TWO
Notre Dame de Paris, also known as Notre Dame Cathedral, is a Gothic Roman Catholic Cathedral on the Eastern half of the Île de la Cité, in the Fourth Arrondissement of Paris, France.
It is the Cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Paris; that is, it is the Church that contains the "Cathedra" (Official Chair) of the Archbishop of Paris, currently André Vingt-Trois. The Cathedral Treasury houses a Reliquary with the purported Crown of Thorns.
Notre Dame de Paris is widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture in France and in Europe, and the naturalism of its sculptures and Stained-Glass are in contrast with earlier Romanesque architecture.
The first period of construction, from 1163 into the 1240s, coincided with the musical experiments of the Notre Dame School. The Cathedral suffered desecration during the radical phase of The French Revolution, in the 1790s, when much of its religious imagery was damaged or destroyed.
An extensive restoration, supervised by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, removed remaining decoration, returning the Cathedral to an 'original' Gothic state. See more at CRACK TWO
