Yesterday we were inside of the Notre Dame cathedral and today we have stepped outside and are looking at the west facade. More specifically we are looking at carvings next to one of the three sets of doors into the cathedral.The man holding his head is St. Denis. He became a saint in part because the miracle he performed was to be martyred by being beheaded, then to reach down and pick up his head and walk 6 miles north of Paris, preaching the whole way. He finally died. And they built a basillica to honor him. Not bad for a day's work.In researching this post I learned a new word: cephalophore. A cephalophore is someone who carries his/her own head. Try working that into your casual conversation today!
Notre Dame
Old Stone
in Architecture, Europe, Travel
I posted a stone carving from a building in Chicago yesterday and observed that it was done in an "era when there was time, talent and money to hand carve decorations for skyscrapers." The building you are looking at is another sort of sky scraper: it is the Notre Dame de Paris. It is the most famous Gothic Cathedral and it took over a 100 years to construct. It, too, was done in an era when there was at least time and talent to construct such buildings.The carvings in this photo are over 1000 years old.