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13/04/2024

Dear Readers,

This post will provide a brief update on the Cathedral of Notre-Dame. It had been hoped that repairs would be far enough along to celebrate Easter Mass in the Cathedral, but sadly this did not come to pass. Instead the rector and chaplains celebrated Easter in St-Germain-l'Auxerrois, just behind the Louvre.

But the good news is that the spire is at last in place, hovering over Paris. The steeple is made of oak, and workers are now covering it with lead panels to protect it from the elements. You can watch a short video on the spire here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqndS9__DeQ

Both inside & outside the building, reconstruction is progressing. Statues are being repaired and placed back on the roof, the 24 chapels have been meticulously cleaned & repainted, the walls have been sanded to remove centuries of grime and are now a pale yellow, their original color. The stained glass windows have been cleaned for the first time since they were installed in the 13th Century, their luster & color brighter than ever. The organ & its 8000 pipes were thoroughly cleaned to remove the lead dust from the fire, and the instrument is now being reassembled. It will be tuned later this year once it is fully in place.

Most significantly, the wooden framework known as the Forest, has at last been finished (see photo). Twelve hundred trees contributed to the reconstruction of the framework, the same as in 1196. They were trimmed and shaped using medieval tools, to maintain tradition. The trees have been replanted to ensure the integrity of the forests where they were grown.

This video will provide a full update on the various elements of the reconstruction process - the artisans & laborers assigned to the project are working 24/7 to reopen the cathedral to the public by December 8th, the date that is now planned as the official "relaunch" of Notre Dame Cathedral.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDVJX8r8AOU

If you come to Paris, don't hesitate to contact me for a tour of the Cathedral - from the outside of course :). Or perhaps you would like to take one of my other tours - feel free to browse & find the tour you like on www.VisitTheHiddenParis.com, my website. I hope to see you soon in Paris !

01/03/2024

Dear Readers,

I have been out of touch for a while and I apologize. I wanted to share a link which might be of interest to anyone who would like to know more about the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris.

A MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) on the subject of the cathedral is now available, free of charge, in English. Learn about the cathedral's rich history & archiecture with this course.

Click here https://mooc-culturels.fondationorange.com/enrol/synopsis/index.php?id=387
and enjoy !

It was a close call for Notre-Dame: it could have been destroyed by fire, sharing the fate of many other prestigious buildings over the centuries. The fire 2019 is only the latest of a list of perils to have threatened Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral throughout its history. With just a few months to g...

14/05/2023

Good morning !

Today I would like to discuss the symbolism behind Gothic architecture. Medieval builders sought to create churches that were functional, beautiful but also filled with religious symbolism. Gothic church decors symbolized Man’s spiritual journey to find God.

Gothic churches were constructed with high ceilings supported by tall pillars. These elements draw the eye upwards, towards God and his sacred light. These architectural elements are meant to remind the visitor of their spiritual journey. The high ceilings were made to resemble the vaults of heaven, using paint and stone. See the photos, which illustrate these insights;

Statues, paintings, windows….the art & architecture in a Gothic church served to teach the faithful. Stained glass windows illustrated the Bible - as in the Sainte Chapelle, where each window represents a book of the Bible, and each pane a chapter from that book.

The façades themselves were richly sculpted with statues of saints, angels and Biblical figures, stone “textbooks” to educate the public, who were mostly illiterate. Doorways were given particularly rich decors, metaphors for the gates of heaven. Statues of Saints form pillars holding up the doorways – they serve as emblems for
the role of Saints as pillars of the church.

In an era when few could read, Gothic architects reinvented the Church as “a Bible in stone”. Their goal was to educate the community and reveal the Divine through art and architecture. And their new architectural style was specifically developed to achieve this goal.

Armed with these insights, join me in an exploration of Gothic architecture in Paris - come on one of my walking tours to see the Gothic churches up close. You can schedule a tour on www.VisitTheHiddenParis.com. While Notre Dame, the iconic Gothic church, is undergoing renovations, there are other beautiful Gothic churches to be visited. See you soon !

23/04/2023

Greetings Dear Readers,

And my deepest apologies for the long absence – I have been giving tours, traveling, writing new material, so busy !! But today I have made the time to write – and today’s subject is Gothic Architecture.

Why ? Because Notre Dame is currently under renovation, and it is considered by many to be the epitome of medieval Gothic architecture.

Gothic was a style of architecture that flourished in the late Middle Ages. It represented a significant break with the past, when Romanesque architecture dominated. While Romanesque churches were dark and heavy, Gothic churches were built to be light and airy.

It was not just about the architecture itself, the goal of the Gothic builders was symbolic – to bring God’s light into the ,church, to illuminate the congregants.
The two distinguishing attributes of Gothic Architecture are height and light. Height was symbolic of reaching for the heavens, to come closer to God both physically and spiritually. With greater height came more light – light being the word of God, a light that purifies and enlightens.

To bring God’s light into the church, high walls with vast windows were needed…windows of stained glass that captured the beauty of God’s light. In previous posts I have explained how the Gothic builders achieved their goal, through the use of new technologies such as the pointed arch, ribbed vaulting and flying buttresses.

In my next post, I will discuss the symbolism of Gothic architecture in greater depth. Please join me if you are coming to Paris and experience Gothic architecture first-hand, on my walking tour of Paris. You can sign up on my website at www.VisitTheHiddenParis.com or by contacting me through Facebook.

01/02/2023

Greetings to my readers !

In my last post, I explained that Gothic churches were constructed by a team of experts led by a Master Builder. This man was trained in construction and masonry, as well as theological subjects. His job was to draft the plans for the church, calculate the dimensions for each element, and oversee the construction project - a combination of architect and foreman.

Once the outline plans for the church were approved, the Master Builder would calculate the precise dimensions of each element of the building using geometry, then considered the "sacred language of the universe". For example, the tip of an equilateral triangle was used to determine the height of the nave. Its base established the width of the building. Simple mathematical ratios were used to calculate the dimensions of each element. Geometric forms determined the shape of the towers, the windows, the doors... The entire structure is, in fact, an assemblage of geometric shapes and forms !

The Master Builder drafted precise plans with his exact measurements for the workers to follow. For large projects, scale models were used. He supervised a team of artisans and skilled laborers who executed his plans. Medieval builders used simple tools such as the compass, the ruler, the hammer and pick. Planes and levels were used to ensure straight edges.

Scaffolding provided workers with access to the upper levels. Primitive cranes, operated by treadmill, lifted material to the roof. Pulleys and winches were used to move heavy objects around the worksite and to haul stones to the upper levels of the construction project.

We hope you found these posts informative ! If you are interested in seeing some of the city's fabulous Gothic churches, feel free to contact me via my website www.VisitTheHiddenParis.com or drop me a note here on this page.

20/01/2023

In our last post, we explained how Gothic architecture innovated by introducing new elements such as the pointed arch. But how were medieval builders able to construct such incredible Cathedrals ?

In the Middle Ages th men who oversaw construction projects were known as Master Builders. Notre-Dame had six known Master Builders, although it is likely there were more, over the 182-year period of construction. There were no blueprints for building a Gothic church – each one was uniquely different.

The Master Builder would draft a set of drawings of the church and present them for approval. He would then calculate the precise dimensions of each element of the building using geometry, the "sacred language of the universe". He supervised a team of artisans and skilled labourers who executed his plan.

Master Builders used simple tools such as the compass, the ruler and the divider to develop their plans. Set squares, plumb lines, mason’s levels and planes were used to ensure scaling and straight edges. Basic arithmetic and geometric shapes such as squares, circles, triangles, were used as an aid to calculate every element of the building, from the height of the towers to the length of the nave, the size of the windows and doors, and the placement of the stained-glass windows.

In our next post, we will explain how the Master Builders worked their magic. If you would like to schedule a visit in Paris, feel free to contact me on my website at www.VisitTheHiddenPariscom or drop me a note here on Facebook.

28/12/2022

In our last post, we explained that in the 12th Century the Bishop of Paris, Maurice de Sully, decided to build a large cathedral for the city of Paris. He wanted his church to be different, to be built in the new Gothic style.

Gothic architecture represented a significant break with the past. Since Antiquity and throughout the Dark Ages, from time of the Roman Empire up to the 12th Century, churches were built with the same features - ones that were created by the Romans.

The architecture of this period, known as Romanesque, is characterized by the use of rounded arches. Churches had few windows, and were built as solid, squat structures with a single portal or doorway. They had square towers and heavy buttresses to reinforce the structure.

Gothic architecture innovated by changing these elements - the rounded arches were replaced by more graceful pointed ones that provided greater weight-bearing capacity. Church walls were broken down to provide space for vast windows of stained glass. Squat towers were transformed into soaring spires. Heavy columns became delicately carved flying buttresses. Rose windows and gargoyles were added to enhance the decors.

The three elements which define Gothic architecture are the pointed arch, ribbed vaulting and the flying buttress. Inspired by the innovative architectural elements they saw at the Cathedral of Saint Denis, the builders of Notre-Dame constructed what is today the most iconic example of Gothic architecture.

The main innovation of Gothic architecture was the introduction of the pointed arch, replacing the rounded arch. With the round arch, weight is distributed outward, horizontally, requiring strong walls for support. The pointed arch distributes its weight downward, vertically, and therefore does not require strong walls. In fact, a pointed arch can rest on pillars, rather than walls, thus the walls were no longer needed to provide support for the entire building - pillars could share the weight.

This freed the Gothic architects to construct taller buildings with thinner walls that could accommodate vast stained-glass windows and flood the church with light. But as the churches grew taller, their weight increased, creating greater pressure on the walls. To resolve this, medieval architects created a new architectural element based on the pointed arch: the rib-vaulted ceiling.

Pointed arches form the ribs of the vaulted ceiling. Each of the 4 ribs in the arch rests on a pillar, channeling weight downwards and relieving the pressure on the walls. The ribbed vault could support greater weight than the old Romanesque barrel vault, allowing for taller naves. Without the use of the ribbed vault, the weight of a Gothic church would push the church walls outwards and cause damage. The new Gothic churches could be built to far greater heights.

Gothic architects began building churches as tall as possible - the race was on to build the highest. But as churches grew in height, architects perceived that more support was needed for the tall naves. The flying buttress was introduced to support the nave at the top, from the outside. It carries significant weight, adding support to the walls and roof and increasing the structural strength of the building.

The first church to combine all of these innovative elements was the Cathedral of Saint-Denis. For an informative overview of the building's construction, watch this interesting video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hijg5XG6yg8

To see either church in person, and learn more about Gothic architecture, feel free to contact me via my website www.VisitTheHiddenParis.com to schedule a tour.

12/12/2022

Before the catastrophic fire of April 15th, 2019, Notre-Dame was the most visited church, and the most visited monument in Europe. Our Lady (Notre-Dame means Our Lady) received 13 million visitors a year. The Cathedral had 30,000 visitors on an average day, but in the peak period during the summer, there were as many as 50,000 visitors per day. On some days visitors would have to wait up to 2 hours to enter !

Did you know that Notre-Dame is situated in the exact center of the city of Paris ? In fact, on the esplanade in front of the building, there is a marker. It is currently covered by scaffolding, but the marker indicates the exact geographical city center. Called Point Zero, the marker indicates the starting point of the nation’s routes, and the distance from Paris to other locations.

The story of Notre-Dame begins with the Romans. They built a temple to Jupiter on the exact location where Notre-Dame currently stands. We don't know what the temple looked like, but we can surmise that it established the foundations for later churches. In 1710, pieces of the sculpted altar dedicated to Jupiter were excavated under the choir of Notre-Dame.

Historians believe that four churches succeeded the Roman temple before Notre-Dame, each one using the stones of the previous construction to build the new one. The first was most likely built in the 4th Century, a primitive Christian chapel built on the foundations of the Roman temple. This was in turn replaced by a small church in the 6th or 7th Centuries.

In 857 the church was upcycled into a Basilica, a much larger structure dedicated to Saint-Stephen. The Basilica was expanded in the 10th Century and episcopal buildings were added. Little is known about Saint-Stephen's but contemporary authors describe the nave as being decorated with marble columns, with mosaics on the walls. On the esplanade in front of the Cathedral (currently covered by scaffolding), a white line indicates the outer edge of the Basilica, and a marker is placed on the location of the Basilica's porch.

In the 12th Century the Bishop of Paris, Maurice de Sully, decided to replace Saint-Stephen’s with a larger cathedral. By this time Paris had become the capital of France both economically and politically, and the Bishop wanted a church that would reflect this status. But he also wanted his new church to be different, to be built in the new Gothic style. In our next post, we will discuss the new Gothic style in detail.

For those who would like to see the cathedral in person, feel free to contact me on my website www.VisitTheHiddenParis.com to schedule a tour !

23/11/2022

Many of my clients have been asking about Notre-Dame. I thought it would be helpful for my readers if I provided an update on the cathedral and its future. I will be issuing a series of posts on the subject in the coming weeks.

The Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris is undoubtedly the world's most iconic Gothic church and a testimony to man's inventiveness. With little more than basic tools and simple arithmetic, medieval men constructed one of the world's most outstanding churches.

The upcoming posts will cover the building's history and construction, its reconstruction in the 1840s, and its sad destruction in 2019. Notre-Dame de Paris took 182 years to build but only a few hours to burn. She will rise again, in 2024, to welcome visitors, pilgrims, and tourists once more.

The cathedral burned on April 15, 2019 in a tragic accident. The exact cause of the blaze is still in question, but it was likely due to an electrical short. By the time the fire was extinguished, the building was severely damaged.

Visitors can no longer enter the church, they can see only the outside of the building. My posts will describe the rich sculptures of the façade and help visitors learn how to "read" them – they tell wonderful stories.

We will enter the church virtually and see what it looked like before the fire. We will learn how the building was constructed, its main architectural features, and its rich history.

The posts will take you down the ages to the 12th Century, when construction first began.... In fact, we will start even earlier, with the Romans, the first to erect a religious building on the site. We will experience a fabulous visit to an incredible cathedral whose history is almost as old as Paris itself.

30/07/2022

Today's post is about Henry Miller (1891-1980), another Lost Generation author. Miller came to Paris in 1930 with a trunk full of novels that nobody wanted to publish. He was 38 and broke, but still trying to write that "one, great novel".

He was penniless, homeless and hungry but happy to be in Paris despite his poverty. He wrote that in Paris..."the streets sing, the stones talk, the houses drip history, glory, romance…”

Back in NY, Miller’s wife June was a “Broadway taxi dancer”. She supported him by dancing with men in a ballroom on Times Square, while he
struggled as an author. In 1931 she joined him in Paris and several months later, the couple met Anaïs Nin, a Franco-Cuban writer (1903-1977). The three began a passionate affair & formed a love triangle.

Nin kept a journal in which she wrote about her erotic adventures with the Millers. The diary was published posthumously as a novel in 1986, entitled "Henry & June". The novel formed the basis for the 1990 movie "Henry & June" starring Uma Thurman.

In her diary Nin wrote of their first meeting. “I saw a man I liked. In his writing he is flamboyant, virile, animal, magnificent. He is a man whom life
makes drunk. I thought he is like me...here is a man I could love.”

June returned to NY after 2 months, leaving Henry and Nin together in Paris. Supported by Nin, Miller wrote his famous novel, "The Tropic of Cancer". The book is a semi-autobiographical tale featuring a starving American writer who lives a bohemian life among prostitutes, pimps and artists. Banned in the US & UK for more than 30 years as pornographic, the book was printed in France and smuggled into other countries. When the book was finally published in the US in 1961, it led to more than 60 obscenity trials until a historic ruling by the Supreme Court defined it as a work of literature.

When World War 2 broke out in 1939, both Miller and Nin left Paris. Returning to the US, Miller went on to publish numerous novels and short stories. Nin went on to become a friend, and in some cases a lover, of authors such as John Steinbeck, Edmund Wilson, Gore Vidal, James Agee and Lawrence Durrell. She wrote several short stories and novels known for their explicit descriptions of female sexuality. Miller and Nin began a literary correspondence that lasted for many years, exchanging passionate love letters that were later published in book form.

With his work banned, Miller spent years living in poverty – unrecognized and rejected by literary critics. George Orwell was one of the first to publicly acknowledge his work – they met in Paris in 1936 – Orwell later wrote, “Miller is a writer out of the ordinary, worth more than a single glance…he is a completely negative, unconstructive, amoral writer…” Miller acquired a sulfurous underground reputation. Both his lifestyle, and explicit writing, inspired the Beat Generation of the 1950s.

If you enjoyed this post, come join me on one of my Lost Generation tours here in Paris. Feel free to learn more on my website, where you can also sign up for a tour (www.VisitTheHiddenParis.com)

04/07/2022

Today's post is about another great American author, John Steinbeck. He came to Paris several times in the 1920s and hung out with his Lost Generation pals in Montparnasse. He partied in all the hot jazz clubs and speakeasies in Montmartre and Pigalle. On one drunken binge he managed to get himself thrown out of the city’s most popular Jazz club, Bricktop’s. By way of apology, he sent the owner of the nightclub a taxi-cab filled with roses.

By 1930 Steinbeck was back in California, struggling to make a living during the Great Depression. Living on welfare and hand-outs from his parents, he was inspired to write about the plight of the poor. He wrote a series of books known as the Dust Bowl novels, stories about migrant farm workers who escaped from the misery of the drought in the Midwest.
The Dust Bowl exodus was the largest migration in American history - by 1940, 2.5 million people had left the Midwest.

Steinbeck’s writing style was straightforward and deceptively simple – he wrote with language that his characters would use. The most famous of his Dust Bowl novels was The Grapes of Wrath, which earned him the Pulitzer Prize in 1940
It was the best-selling book in America in 1936 – it sold 430,000 copies in the first 6 months.

In WW2, Steinbeck accompanied the US Army on both the Eastern Front & in North Africa, reporting for several newspapers. He was embedded with the Beach Jumpers, a commando unit led by Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
During a raid on Capri, Steinbeck helped Fairbank’s unit capture prisoners, brandishing a Tommy Gun. He was later wounded by shrapnel from
a munitions explosion and returned to the US.

Steinbeck wrote two books based on his experiences in WW2. The Moon is Down, about the military occupation of a small town in Northern Europe, was made into a film almost immediately after publication. Steinbeck was awarded the Norwegian Freedom Cross in 1943.

In the 1950s Steinbeck traveled frequently to Paris, which he viewed “with an eye of delight”. He took a flat on the avenue de Marigny for several months in 1954. Le Figaro commissioned him to write a series of 17 short stories, which they translated into French. The stories are humorous pieces that show
a different side to the author of serious novels such as Cannery Row.

One piece, “Fishing In Paris”,
was a humorous comparison of fishing practices in America, England & France. Steinbeck theorized that the different ways of fishing in each country reflected the
national character. Some of the stories were reprinted in Punch Magazine (1954) but others were lost.

In 2019 one of the lost articles was rediscovered and published in Strand Magazine. The Amiable Fleas” is a whimsical
tale set in a Parisian restaurant. The chef, Monsieur Amité, has a cat named Apollo who samples the sauces and provides his approval. The story relates their adventures when the chef tries to win a 2nd Michelin star.

If you enjoyed reading this post, perhaps you might like to join oneyof my Lost Generation Tours on your next trip to Paris. Feel free to consult my website www.VisitTheHiddenParis.com where you will find my contact details.

22/06/2022

I have been posting, over the past several months, about writers from the Lost Generation in Paris. Today I would like to post about one of those writers, John Dos Passos (1896-1970), a leading light of the post-war Lost Generation authors.

During World War 1, Dos Passos and fellow Harvard classmate E.E. Cummings volunteered as Ambulance Drivers. The work took Dos Passos to the trenches of Verdun, in France, where the horrors he witnessed inspired him to write his first book. Entitled "One Man’s Initiation", the book described “the rollicking, grotesque dance of death”. Dos Passos was later sent to the front in Italy, where he met Ernest Hemingway, also an Ambulance Driver.

After the war Dos Passos moved to Paris. He studied French Literature at the Sorbonne and took an apartment on the quays overlooking Notre Dame. He met up with his old friends Cummings and Hemingway. Dos Passos frequently joined Hemingway in his travels, skiing in Austria and running the bulls in Spain.

In 1921 he published his 2nd book, "Three Soldiers", an anti-war novel that brought him considerable recognition. It is a grim portrayal of the everyday lives of three American soldiers in World War 1. The book became a seminal record of the war.

Returning to the US in 1925, Dos Passos published two of the most famous social commentaries on American life in the 1920s : "Manhattan Transfer" and "The USA Trilogy". He wrote that the nation is composed of many voices, and he sought to portray the melting pot of America by depicting ordinary people from different walks of life.

Hugely influential, "The USA Trilogy" is a collection of three Modernist novels : "The 42nd Parallel", "1919" and "The Big Money". The books were written in an experimental non-linear form with innovative narrative techniques.

Hemingway and Dos Passos met once again in 1936 as reporters covering the Spanish Civil War. They worked together on a documentary in support of the democratic Spanish Republican party. The film was written by Dos Passos and Hemingway, who also narrated it.

Over the course of a career spanning some 50 years, Dos Passos published 42 novels, poems and essays and created more than 400 works of art, including his own book covers.

Jean-Paul Sartre called Dos Passos "the greatest novelist of the 20th Century". His influence on his generation was significant – a leading Modernist, his experimental techniques made his novels some of the most unique pieces of 20th Century literature.

Sadly, Dos Passos has become a forgotten writer, despite his prolific output. I encourage my readers to (re)discover this amazing author.

If you enjoyed reading this little excerpt, come join me on your next trip to Paris. I do a walking tour of the Lost Generation authors in Paris, an immersion in the Left Bank of the 1920s. Have a look at my website for more information or to book a tour (www.VisitTheHiddenParis.com)