NB! · Architecture · Faith · Heritage · Society · Paris

Yesterday afternoon the French Minister of Culture tweeted photographs of some of the valuable objects kept in the Cathedral being removed for the duration of the repairs

Yesterday afternoon the French Minister of Culture tweeted photographs of some of the valuable objects kept in the Cathedral being removed for the duration of the repairs. The tweet was posted at 14:41, five hours before the fire

Architecture · Faith · Heritage · Paris

So, what became of the treasures of Notre-Dame de Paris?

So, what became of the treasures of Notre-Dame de Paris? What has survived? The Holy Crown of Thorns It came to France as a gift to Louis IX in 1238. The Crown of Thorns, with several thorns removed (and dispatched to various corners of the world), is kept in

Façade of Soissons Cathedral with a single tall tower, a rose window and pointed portals under an overcast sky.

NB! · Architecture · Faith · Heritage

Soissons Cathedral after restoration, with one tower as since the 14th century

This is how the Soissons Cathedral, restored after its destruction, looks today. Yes, with a single tower: that is how it had stood since the fourteenth century, the second tower simply never being completed.

Architecture · Faith · Heritage

Saint-Gervais-et-Saint-Protais, or Soissons Cathedral: one of the largest Gothic cathedrals of France, comparable in size to Notre-Dame de Paris and the cathedrals of Reims and Amiens

116 metres in length, against 130 for Notre-Dame de Paris; height under the vault of the choir: 31, against 33.5 for Notre-Dame; height of the tower: 66, against 69. The church was wholly destroyed during the First World War; in 1914 it literally lay in ruins. The

Architecture · Faith · Observations · Heritage · Paris

Fire during repairs at Saint-Sulpice church in Paris damages doors and façade

Incidentally, exactly a month ago, on 18 March, another very significant church in Paris, Saint-Sulpice, caught fire, also during restoration work. Fortunately, the blaze was quickly put out; the doors, part of the façade and part of the interior decoration suffered, and the church is now being restored. What

Architecture · The East · Heritage

Rolex clock tower on Place de l’Etoile in Beirut, destroyed in the war and later rebuilt

The Rolex clock tower in central Beirut on Place de l’Etoile, at the beginning of the twentieth century, one of the tallest buildings in the city. This district was the seat of the French government of Lebanon. During the war the whole district, like much of the city, was

Architecture · Faith · Observations · Nature

An unreal church in Luxembourg: I drove past this hairpin road last year, when Auntie Nina and I went to the market for meat (Luxembourg is considerably cheaper than Belgium), and I even thought, surely a cross cannot be sticking straight out of the roads

An unreal church in Luxembourg. I drove past this hairpin road last year, when Auntie Nina and I went to the market for meat (Luxembourg is considerably cheaper than Belgium), and I even thought, surely a cross cannot be sticking straight out of the roadside, I must have imagined it.

Architecture · Art · Heritage · Paris

Six women restorers are restoring the face of Marianne on the Arc de Triomphe

Six independent women restorers are repairing a symbol of France: Marianne from the sculptural group La Marseillaise, which stands on the Arc de Triomphe. Marianne's face suffered badly during the Yellow Vests demonstration of 1 December 2018, and photographs of her with a smashed cheek went round the

NB! · Architecture · Faith · Paris · Nature

The holy-water stoup in the Baroque church of Saint-Sulpice, made from a giant tridacna shell: the largest mollusc of its kind weighed 333 kilograms and measured more than a metre in length

NB! · Architecture · Faith · Books · Museums

A medieval portable bookcase in the form of a chest on a pole, from Hereford Cathedral, the very one that houses the famous chained library

NB! · Architecture · Faith · Observations · Heritage · Rome

Do you see the empty niche in the upper part of the façade of Santa Maria in Aracoeli?

Do you see the empty niche in the upper part of the façade of Santa Maria in Aracoeli? It was here that the first public clock of Rome was installed, in 1412, 42 years after Paris. But in 1806 it was decided to move the clock to the tower of

Architecture · Faith · Observations · Rome

Saint Eustace's stag and the Roman church that gave its name to a square

In the very heart of Rome stands a small church with a most unusual crucifix: from its roof a stag gazes down upon the city, a cross between its antlers. This is the heraldic emblem of Saint Eustace, a Roman general who converted to Christianity after meeting, while out hunting,