Cathedrals are true windows to Heaven

Between 1200 and 1400, large cities all over the West started building the most beautiful cathedrals to God, all unequalled marvels of technology and beauty. A cathedral is a church that contains the cathedra (Latin for 'seat') of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese. Theseextraordinary buildings proclaim and prove the existence of God, symbolizing his beauty, presence, creative power, etc. The human genius and effort they required for their construction are a measure of the faith of their builders and continue to impress and move us. Beneath the forecourt of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, an immersive virtual reality show called "Eternelle Notre-Dame" takes us on a journey back to the time of the cathedral builders.

Rose window of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris

Reasons to believe:

The number of cathedrals built in Europe during the Middle Ages was unprecedented. For instance, the French moved and cut more stone between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries than the Egyptians did in 4,000 years, dotting their country with a "white mantle of churches" in the words of the monk Raoul Glaber.

At a time when architecture was not even a taught discipline, the construction of cathedrals represented a prodigious feat of engineering and many technological leaps: the pointed (ogival) arch, the invention of buttresses, coloured stained-glass windows, treadwheel cranes, lead casting, the standardization of stones... Each element was in itself a revolution in the field of building!

The dazzling splendor of the cathedrals, both in terms of materials and beauty of execution, reveals the strong faith of the medieval city dwellers and their love for God, as they financed these costly construction works while living themselves in home that were were rustic and lacking in comfort.

The height of these buildings was formidable for the time: it represented a superhuman achievement. By way of example, no building reached the height of Strasbourg's 145-metre spire before the end of the 19th century.

A cathedral is not a museum, but a vibrant place of worship encased in a masterpiece of art. This is why entering a cathedral is to enter a sacred portal where everyone can meet God.

Summary:

Entering a cathedral produces a sense of awe: the silence, the often staggering height of the ceiling, the half-light, filtered through the celestial symphony of colors of stained glass windows, the graceful architecture, noble columns, the elevated altar where God gives himself as food to his children... a cathedral is indeed a universe of balance and striking beauty.

Entering a cathedral is to enter a sacred portal where one can meet God. Visiting the cathedrals of Chartres, Reims, Rouen, Beauvais or one of the hundred cathedrals is an unforgettable mystical experience that brings one in contact with God; with this Jesus Christ who gave his life to save mankind, and whom the medieval people loved wholeheartedly

The 14 million visitors (double the number of visitors to the Eiffel Tower) who until recenlty passed through the heavy doors of Notre Dame de Paris cathedral - built over 182 years between 1163 and 1345 - were fascinated by it. Was it on account of its age, its beauty or the famous literature dedicated to it? The cathedral is the soul of a Christian country, and many are dedicatedd to Mary, the mother of Christ.

The cathedral-building phase was concentrated over a hundred years, from 1140 to 1240. Between 1200 and 1240, seventeen cathedrals rose from the ground.

It was because of their unwavering faith that the inhabitants of the medieval cities financed the costly work of building the cathedrals for several centuries, without the help of the lords but with the support of the kings. These men and women lived in rustic dwellings with no stained-glass windows, stone paving or neat architecture, for the majority half-timbered, i.e. wooden structures filled with adobe or clay, rustic dwellings with no comforts. But the people were eager to give to God what they didn't have themselves. The sheer scale of the cathedrals compared with the simple houses of the time - both in terms of materials and beauty of execution - illustrates the love of Christians for Our Lord. There is no equivalent type of construction in our time.

The construction of each cathedral is an astonishing tour de force in more ways than one, because it was necessary to bring together, in a relatively short space of time, the financing, the master craftsmen, the workers and countless stone-cutting artists, sculptors and painters, all under the direction of grassroots master builders, as there was no school to teach architecture.

Above all, the ogival arch was highly innovative and bold, based on truly new principles. It took a lot of courage for the builders to adopt a set of brand-new techniques and tools, without any real precedent. Just think of Strasbourg's 150-metre spire: no building reached that height, including the Egyptian pyramids, before the end of the nineteenth century. What's more astonishing is the perfection of these buildings, which were exceptional for their time: cathedral towers reach over 70 metres, stained glass windows 25 metres high and vaulted naves up to 48 metres high! The introduction of the ogival style - improperly called Gothic - paved the way for a revolution in construction.

The Gothic style originated in 12th-century in a suburb north of Paris, Saint-Denis. It was conceived of by Abbot Suger (1081-1151 CE), a powerful figure in French history. In June 1144, Suger brought together the finest bishops and lords of the kingdom to the town of Saint-Denis to show them the sublime choir of the newly completed cathedral of Saint-Denis, and they were in for a shock! The new idea was to flood cathedrals and abbeys with light, building taller and more elegant structures. This enterprise necessitated the adoption of pointed arches, rib vaults, and flying buttresses in order to make the walls taller and thinner by distributing the weight of the building more effectively.These new walls were much thinner than their Romanesque predecessors, leaving immense openings where intensely coloured stained glass windows were placed, an image of the heavenly Jerusalem. At a time when colours were scarce and churches were massive and poorly lit, this was a revelation. Immediately, all cathedral construction sites were halted and the new ogival technique was adopted, revolutionizing the way buildings were lit.

To build such edifices, a revolution in construction methods was needed: treadwheel cranes to hoist stones weighing up to 600 kilos, the use of iron and lead casting to hold together the thinnest elements of the columns and rose windows, acting like reinforced concrete before its time, construction templates and the standardization of tasks, particularly stone-cutting...

Cathedrals are part of our landscape and true symbols of our Western civilization, expressing a very strong faith in Christ in a tangible way. They make a strong case for believing in Jesus Christ.

Xavier Bezançon, who works in the public works sector, is the author of several books, including Histoire de la construction.

Beyond reasons to believe:

The origins of cathedrals can be traced back to before the year 1000. The chapel in Charlemagne's palace, built between 796 and 805 in Aachen, based on the octagonal plan of the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, was exceptionally large for its time, and had no rival until the European cathedrals were built.

The only surviving Carolingian cathedral in France is Notre Dame-de-la-Basse-Œuvre in Beauvais, built in the tenth century as a pure Roman building with semi-circular window openings and no sculpted decorative elements.

It was precisely this type of archaic building that the bishops decided to replace with ogival cathedrals, which were far more beautiful! The first Romanesque cathedrals were modest in size compared with the Gothic buildings that appeared in the twelfth century. There are still a great many Romanesque cathedrals today, but they still retain the charm of modest, highly ornate buildings such as Saint Pierre d'Angoulême.

Going further:

The current, breathtaking immersive virtual reality show "Eternal Notre-Dame": Notre-Dame de Paris as you've never seen it before.

More information:

Cathedrals: Masterpieces of Architecture, Feats of Engineering, Icons of Faith by Simon Jenkins
Heaven on Earth: The Lives and Legacies of the World's Greatest Cathedrals by Emma J. Wells, Apollo (March 5, 2024)
The Gothic Cathedral by Otto Georg Von Simson, Princeton University Press; Expanded edition (July 1, 1988)