Reims cathedral (begun 1211 AD) Reims was already an important Christian church in 496 AD, just after the fall of Rome, when the first Christian king of France, Clovis, was baptized there (the remains of the baptismal [...]
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 [...]
Early Gothic architecture: Notre Dame of Paris (1160s AD) What came after Romanesque? After the Romanesque period in architecture, around 1100 AD, architects in western Europe gradually started to build Christian churches and palaces in [...]
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 [...]
Conciergerie: the king's castle in Paris (parts of it from the 1300 AD) What is the Conciergerie? The Conciergerie was the castle where the kings and queens of France lived when they [...]
Chartres on the horizon Why was Chartres so important? Even though Chartres, near Paris, France, was only a small town, it had an important treasure: the dress that people said Mary was wearing when [...]
Elevation of Amiens cathedral (begun 1220 AD) Where Chartres cathedral had a full gallery above the side aisles, Amiens has only a thin false gallery like Reims, with windows behind it that let in [...]
Façade of Amiens cathedral in France Why did Amiens build a big cathedral? Amiens is not far from Reims, in northern France, and when the bishop of Reims began building a big new cathedral in [...]
