Notre-Dame de Paris celebrates its 850-year anniversary in 2013

Next year, the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris expects more than 20 million visitors, celebrating the anniversary of this beautiful church. The first stone was laid in the presence of the Pope, Alexander III, in 1163. It took about a hundred years to finish the impressive edifice.

Complete with a new viewing platform, improved lighting, a renovated organ and – in a while – eight new bells, the Cathedral is looking all spick and span for the celebrations of the upcoming year. The lighting system is already in place, but the bells are still poured in Normandy at the bell-maker Cornille Havard. Overall, the Cathedral has raised €6.5 million from private donors to finance the ongoing projects.
The celebrations took off on December 12th, with the Parisian Cardinal-Archbishop Andrè Vingt-Trois celebrating mass at an evening service in the presence of ministers and a large crowd of other specially invited honoraries. Nearly 2000 took part in the event, which took place in front of the Cathedral.

At the same time, an interdisciplinary scientific symposium is taking place in Collège des Bernadins, where the focus is not so much on the building itself but on the religious life at the Cathedral through 850 years. The program may be viewed here.

A heavy coffee-table book  – 27 x 37 cm, 504 pages, 600 images and 2 kilos – has been published in connection with the anniversary. The book covers the history of construction from the 12th century up until now, and it tells the story of the building as a set piece for significant events in French history. The book is published in the series “La Grace d’une Cathédrale” by La Nuée Bleue Editions. The proceedings from the scientific symposium will be published later this year.

Stéphane Compoint

In connection with the anniversary the magazine Pelerin has hired the photographer Stéphane Compoint to take photos with his special technique. He uses a camera mounted on a balloon filled with helium, which he directs from below. A presentation of how this is done may be seen at the site of Pelerins. The photos may be enjoyed as part an E-pilgrimage taking seven days and inviting the pilgrim every day to enjoy and reflect upon the special sites of Notre Dame de Paris.

Sign up to receive the daily email with the E-pilgrimage aka photo-safari by Stéphane Compoint here 

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© Stéphane Compoint

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Notre Dame de Paris. La Grace d’une Cathedrale.
Ed. by Dany Sandron, Jean-Pierre Cartier and Gerard Pélletier.
Paris, La NuéeBleue Editions 2012.

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