Notre Dame

no'tr dam, the cathedral of Paris. It is one of the most renowned churches, not only of France, but of the world. It stands on an island in the Seine in the very center of the original city. It was founded in 1163. It was two centuries in building. As seen now it seems to stand low on the ground. It was approached formerly by a flight of thirteen steps, but the streets have been graded up until they are on a level with the main floor. The cathedral has the general form of a Latin cross. The transept is 417 feet long and 156 feet wide. The vaulting of the nave is 110 feet high, and is carried by seventy-five pillars. The vaulting of the aisles is lower, so that light can enter the clerestory of the nave through thirty-seven large windows. The organ is a magnificent instrument with 5,246 pipes and eighty-six stops. The pulpit is considered one of the finest specimens of modern wood-carving. The facade, or western front, is entered by three recessed portals. They were formerly adorned by many fine statues, but, during the French Revolution, Notre Dame was for a time condemned to destruction. The mob knocked off much of the sculpture. The facade has three stories. In the center of the second story there is a beautiful rose window forty-two feet in diameter. An unfinished tower rises from each corner of the western front. A bell weighing sixteen tons, one of the largest in use, hangs in the southern tower. The clapper weighs half a ton.