Church of St. Sernin, Toulouse, France In 1080 AD, the church of St. Sernin in Toulouse was a busy place. Charlemagne had given the church some saints' relics, and many people stopped to pray [...]
Rouen cathedral (begun 1202 AD) The people of Rouen, in northern France, decided to build themselves a new cathedral in 1200 AD, just after people started building Chartres cathedral, and only about forty years after [...]
Elevation of the nave inside Reims cathedral One difference between Chartres cathedral and Reims cathedral was that at Reims they didn't build a deep gallery over the aisle. Instead, they just put [...]
The baptistery of Pisa, Italy When did Pisa build their baptistery? This baptistery is where people baptized their children in medieval Pisa (PEE-za), in Italy. The people of Pisa built their round [...]
Notre Dame of Paris (1160s AD) A Roman temple to Jupiter In the time of the Romans, about 100 AD, the city council of Paris built a temple. They dedicated it to the [...]
Notre Dame of Paris nave Building the apse of Notre Dame After they had pretty much finished the nave of Notre Dame of Paris, the builders worked on the crossing. [...]
Notre Dame of Paris (1160s AD) Why did Sully build Notre Dame? It was 1160 AD, a hundred years after Matilda built the Abbaye aux Dames in Caen, and about the same time [...]
A misericorde in a church Why did people need misericordes? In the Middle Ages, Christian priests and monks sang in their church choirs just as people do today. Sometimes they had to sing for [...]
Can you match each of these stained-glass windows from the Sainte Chapelle to the Bible story it illustrates? Noah's Ark Moses and the Burning Bush Marking the doors for Passover Parting the [...]
Notre Dame of Paris (1160s AD) The shape of a cross Medieval architects designed most Romanesque and Gothic churches starting with the design of a Roman basilica. But many churches added a part coming out [...]
