A while ago my wife and I visited Notre Dame. Evensong began after we entered, and I remembered that for all its standing as the medieval cathedral, it is also a working church.
I took this photo by guesswork after my camera’s light meter broke. I was using 200 asa Fujicolor film which I figured was going to be pretty forgiving – and so it turned out.
We sat in the area roped off for us, in the golden light, while the voices of the singers soared into the vaulted ceiling. It was a solemn moment. An inspiring moment.
Afterwards, I foolishly thought I might take a photo. Bad move. The metering system failed, then and there. It was a manual camera with sprung shutter, so it still took photos, and I could guess the likely settings. I figured I could push the film by up to four stops, and the pictures would still be OK. They were. I’ve published one of the photos here. Exposure time of about half a second, I think, at f.8. Note the blur of the audience moving in the middle.
I posted the other week on the way that cathedrals can inspire writers to think – to imagine, to wonder how others feel, looking at these great vaulting traceries of stone that soar skywards on wings of stained glass. And of all Europe’s cathedrals, Notre Dame has been the inspiration for one of the most iconic stories of nineteenth century France – Victor Hugo’s story of medieval tragedy, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Published in 1831, it is almost as iconic to us now as Notre Dame itself. It has been made into a movie many times – the first as early as 1905.
My wife and I were thinking of Victor Hugo when we left, because we wandered the grounds looking up at the gargoyles and calling ‘Esmerelda’. And were promptly caught in a rainstorm.
Have you ever been to Notre Dame? Or read Hugo’s story? Or been inspired yourself to write, from experiences in a cathedral? Do share!
Copyright © Matthew Wright 2012
Matthew, I’m glad you enjoyed the cathedral. Unfortunately I had a different impression. I might say in advance that during this trip we had already visited St. Patricks (USA), St. Peters (Rome), The Pantheon, and several other cathedrals.
I looked forward eagerly to seeing Notre Dame. I saw a church with saffolds holding it’s walls in place. The interior was dark and gloomy, there were no welcoming sun’s rays shining through the Rose Window as there had been through the Dove Window in Rome.
I wish had seen this through your eyes. I guess I have through your blog. Thanks Matthew.
Thank you. I have to say it was pure chance we arrived when we did – and a few other cathedrals have given me the exact impression you got from Notre Dame; gloomy. The weirdest cathedral I’ve seen has to be the Domkerk in Utrecht, which isn’t far from where the Dutch half of my family live. The nave collapsed in 1674 during a storm and has never been rebuilt, leaving the tower free-standing. The transept remained intact and is still used. I’ll post the pictures in a week or so.
Next time you have to come with us to Canterbury Cathedral, it was also awesome, and we lucked out with evensong there too, or something, actually maybe it was something else, because it involved the organ and I dont remember singing. It was cool and did put me in mind of Notre Dame in its architecture. Then we also need to go to Salisbury Cathedral where you can experience camera fail while taking photos of the huge font that contains a mirror image reflection of the stained glass windows. You will love it.
You know I’ve still got that camera – AND film for it? First need to check out the Domkirk again, preferably with detour to that poffertjes n pizza outlet in Lage Vuursche, I know it’s not a cathedral, but hey…
I’m so lucky I get to experience this magnificent cathedral whenever I want, and I was just there on Sunday for mass. Like you, I have always been inspired by the Gothic churches of Europe, which draw the eye ever upward and forward, from the gloom and bustle of the tourists and pilgrims amid the shadows of the columns, up past the altar, and into the glorious light of a Sunday morning breaking through the stained glass windows high above. Truly uplifting for the soul.
And it was, in fact, Victor Hugo who saved the iconic cathedral from complete destitution and destruction by writing The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which so stirred public interest that he single-handedly piqued the conscience of a nation and stirred a social movement to preserve the church, much to our benefit today. Talk about an influential writer!
Definitely influential! And I guess we forget, looking at those cathedrals today, how much was actually done in the nineteenth century to bring them up to standard.
I had only a short amount of time in Notre Dame a few summers ago, and it was a gloomy, cloudy day. But I absolutely loved the outside and the flying buttresses!
My awesome cathedral experience was in Salisbury. We were there too early for a tour, but the kids from the choir school came in for a practice. We sat and thoroughly enjoyed that, but when they were done, the organist let loose for a practice session of his own, and wow, there are no words. I just felt privileged to be there where people had worshipped for centuries, and let the music take over.
These buildings were made to create an inspiring experience – through their shape, their scale, and the music. And they do. Your Salisbury experience sounds particularly awesome.
They gain a whole different aspect in thundery weather – I have a distinct recollection of being caught in a stream of water pouring out of one of the Notre Dame gargoyles, I have to admit there is something mildly disturbing about the fact that these things are actually the gutter down-pipes.