In his famous novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo wrote of the Notre Dame Cathedral,
Each face, each stone of this venerable monument is not only a page of the history of the country, but also of the history of knowledge and art . . . Time is the architect, the people are the builder (Hugo 162, 164).
From this perspective, the bold monumentality of the twelfth century project reflects the reassertion of royal power under Louis VI and Louis VII; the forceful reign of Philip Augustus finds its architectural expression in the triumphant stability of the west facade; the spiritual charisma of Louis IX resonates in the elegance of the transepts. Images of these monarchs appear like seals in the portals to authenticate the cathedral as an official act (Davis 34).
The architecture of the cathedral includes a number of unique elements in Gothic architecture as well as being characteristic of Gothic cathedral architecture in other ways. Certain key elements--the bishop's throne, places for clergy (also known as the "choir"), and an altar--reflected the fact that all cathedrals had the same religious function (MacDonald and James 8). Similarly, the ornamentation that is so common in Gothic architecture is evident in this work and conveys a variety of religious ideas and religious stories and meanings that connect the structure to its purpose and that also communicates with the external observer.
Gothic art was flowing, mystical, individualistic, and tended toward the naturalistic, and Gothic architecture was characterized by height, high vaulted ceilings, tracery between large (often stained glass) windows, and flying buttresses. There was increasing emphasis on decorative detail toward the end of the movement, and the most famous example of Gothic architecture is the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris.
The history of Notre Dame de Paris has been the history of France, and for Frenchmen in the Middle Ages, ...