The north tower is accessible to visitors via a 387-step staircase, while the south tower is home to the cathedral’s 10 bells. The two towers on the west facade, measuring 69m high, were built in the early 13th century.
The first stone of what was to be a massive edifice measuring 130m long and 48m wide, is said to have been laid in 1163, in the presence of Pope Alexander III, but it took another 200 years to complete and underwent frequent modifications in the following centuries. The city had emerged as the centre of power in France and needed a religious monument to match its new status.Ī medieval basilica occupying the site chosen by the king at the eastern end of the Île de la Cité, one of two islands in the Seine, was torn down to its foundations so the new cathedral could be built. Notre Dame Cathedral was commissioned by King Louis VII who wanted it to be a symbol of Paris’s political, economic, intellectual and cultural power at home and abroad. The cathedral was immortalised in popular culture by Victor Hugo in his Gothic novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame, later turned into a Disney film. Photograph: Patrick Kovarik/AFP/Getty Images
View image in fullscreen The stained-glass “rose” rosace on the southern side of the Notre Dame Cathedral is threatened by the fire.