Emily and Joe's Blog: Paris: Notre Dame & Sainte Chapelle Church

Beginning in 1163, Notre Dame took almost 200 years to complete! It was the largest religious building in western Europe until the mid-13th century. It's Gothic architectural style surely brings mystery to the unique building. It's a Roman Catholic cathedral, made especially famous after Victor Hugo's novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

The outside - so much detail on the building, it was truly incredible. It's hard to get a picture of it's huge size, but you can kind of see how the building extends quite a ways in the back.

The inside - it was difficult to capture the atmosphere inside because 1) it was extremely large, 2) there was a service going while we were there, and 3) no flash allowed. It fit the Gothic style though - a little dark and gloomy.

We climbed the 387 steps of the winding staircase to the top of the towers for a gorgeous panoramic view over all of Paris. With a baby strapped to my chest, it was an exhausting journey! But well worth it to see the view, and famous gargoyles up close.

A gargoyle on the top of Notre Dame looking out over Paris. There were hundreds of these mysterious stone creatures throughout the top of the cathedral.

Another view from the top, looking down over the back of the cathedral. Of course we took several other stunning photos from the top, you'll have to check out our shutterfly pics to see them all.

Sainte Chapelle Church is located just around the corner from Notre Dame. It was built around 1248 and has two main levels: the first is a plain lower chapel for servants, the second is an elaborate upper chapel which was reserved for the king and court members. The upper chapel is surrounded with beautiful stained glass windows. I read that it retains one of the most extensive collections of 13th century stained glass anywhere in the world. The 1,113 scenes depicted in the 15 stained glass windows tell the story of mankind from Genesis through to Christ's resurrection. It was simply amazing! I can't even imagine how beautiful it would be on a sunny day.