The North Rose Window of Notre Dame de Paris ~
The north rose window dates from 1250 and is also 12.9 meters in diameter. Its main theme is the Old Testament, but the central medallion depicts the Virgin and Child.
The stained glass windows of the Notre-Dame are very beautiful and a good part of them date from the 13th century when the cathedral was constructed. In this author's opinion, Notre-Dame's collection of stained glass is not as impressive as those at other French cathedrals, such as Chartres and Bourges, and in Paris the best place to enjoy an overall effect of stained glass is probably not Notre Dame but Sainte-Chapelle.
Nevertheless, Notre-Dame's stained glass windows remain an important and beautiful work of 13th-century Gothic art, with interesting details well worth exploring in more detail. The highlight - and the greatest survival of original glass - is the set of three beautiful rose windows, which shine like jewels over the west door and in the north and south transept.
The magnificent roses of the transepts at Notre Dame date to 1250-60. Unlike most of the glass in Paris, and much of France, these two contain nearly all of their original elements. The ravages of time and war destroyed a majority of the great glass works of the Middle Ages, though human arrogance also took its toll. By the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the distaste for Medieval styles was prevalent across Europe. In efforts to modernize the churches and cathedrals, windows were callously smashed out and replaced with a lightly tinted glass called grisaille. In the nineteenth century some of these works were restored. Sadly, there no longer existed an extant tradition which supported the same degree of craft evident in such masterpieces as the roses of Notre Dame de Paris and Chartres.
The North Rose Window of Notre Dame de Paris ~
The north rose window dates from 1250 and is also 12.9 meters in diameter. Its main theme is the Old Testament, but the central medallion depicts the Virgin and Child.
The stained glass windows of the Notre-Dame are very beautiful and a good part of them date from the 13th century when the cathedral was constructed. In this author's opinion, Notre-Dame's collection of stained glass is not as impressive as those at other French cathedrals, such as Chartres and Bourges, and in Paris the best place to enjoy an overall effect of stained glass is probably not Notre Dame but Sainte-Chapelle.
Nevertheless, Notre-Dame's stained glass windows remain an important and beautiful work of 13th-century Gothic art, with interesting details well worth exploring in more detail. The highlight - and the greatest survival of original glass - is the set of three beautiful rose windows, which shine like jewels over the west door and in the north and south transept.
The magnificent roses of the transepts at Notre Dame date to 1250-60. Unlike most of the glass in Paris, and much of France, these two contain nearly all of their original elements. The ravages of time and war destroyed a majority of the great glass works of the Middle Ages, though human arrogance also took its toll. By the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the distaste for Medieval styles was prevalent across Europe. In efforts to modernize the churches and cathedrals, windows were callously smashed out and replaced with a lightly tinted glass called grisaille. In the nineteenth century some of these works were restored. Sadly, there no longer existed an extant tradition which supported the same degree of craft evident in such masterpieces as the roses of Notre Dame de Paris and Chartres.