Name/Title
StereographEntry/Object ID
2023.055.3.0293Description
A black and white stereograph. Image is of Notre Dame cathedral. Above the image "T450 (Star)" is printed, below the image "24817T - The Glorious Cathedral of Notre Dame Dominates Island Which was the Cradle of Paris, France." is printed, to the left of the image "Keystone View Company COPYRIGHTED Manufacturers MADE IN U.S.A. Publishers" is printed, to the right of the image "Meadville, Pa., New York, N. Y., Chicago, Ill., London, England." is printed. On the reverse the following is printed:
24817
THE CATHEDRAL OF NOTRE DAME, PARIS
Away back in the year 375 early converts to Christianity built a church here on the island which is now the heart of Paris. The church as it stands now was begun in 1163. They were at work on it while Philip Augustus of France was away in the Holy Land with Richard the Lionhearted of England and Frederick Barbarossa of Germany on the third crusade against the Saracens in Palestine, but it was not finished until about a hundred years later, in the days of St. Louis (Louis IX) of France. When the storm of the Revolution burst over the head of Louis XVI, a howling mob smashed many of the sculpured decorations and set up on the high alter for worship a notorious woman to personify the Goddess of Reason; After that storm was over the damages were reparied, the quaint and beautiful old statues restored.
There is no church in all Europe richer in hsitoric associations. Kings and emperors have passed through that stately middle entrance, where the sculptured firue of Chirst separates the doorways and the Apostles stand guard at the sides and the Last Judgement is portrayed overhead. Royal marriages have been celebrated in that central porch. The huge bell up in the south (right hand) tower has rung for undreds and hundreds of years in celebration of every great military victory of the French people.
Victor Hugo knew the beautiful old church by heart and loved every stone in it from the worn doorsills up to those queer goblins and devils, carved in stone, leaning out form that balcony at the base of the square towers. His famous romance, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, is the best commentary on the building that has ever been written.
Copyrigh by The Keystone View CompanyCollection
Photograph Collection