In its desire to erase all traces of feudalism, the French Revolution systematically and seriously damaged the decor of the cathedral of Notre Dame of Paris. In 1793, the twenty eight statues of the kings of Judah on the main facade were taken down and then sold to a builder as scrap material. Considered as lost, they were reconstructed in their original positions by Viollet-le-Duc’s team in the middle of the 19th century. But in 1977, during the construction of Rue de la Chaussee-d’Antin, twenty one kings’ heads – and more than one hundred fragments of statues- luckily resurfaced. The heads had been bought in 1796, then buried with respect. It was one of the most important archeological discoveries of the last few hundred years, an important addition to our knowledge of Parisian sculpture of the first half of the 13th century.

The corbelled gallery of kings, which overhangs the level of the three portals of the western facade, was sculpted around 1225-1230. It is the oldest example of horizontal representation of the kings of Judah, ancestors of Christ through the Virgin whose statue overlooks the gallery. This monumental biblical genealogy was repeated in the 13th century on the facades of the cathedrals of Chartres, Amiens and Reims.*

*Information from the Musee de Cluny website.

The holding gallery can be found here.

In all my visits to Paris over the years I have never seen Notre Dame without scaffolding. It is normally the building itself that is covered in scaffolding but this time as you can see it was in front of the building. A temporary structure is being built for the Cathedral’s anniversary celebrations next year, it will allow visitors to see the front of the building and its features more easily.

The day started off with a typically French breakfast which was a refreshing change to the chain hotels that try and cater for all tastes.  After breakfast we set off exploring in light drissle which continued for most of the day, but at least it wasn’t cold and we were mostly indoors.   Our first port of call after breakfast was the Sacre Coeur, the hotel receptionist advised us to be careful because Romanian pickpockets were operating in that area.  The Sacre Coeur was more impressive than I remembered it, but sadly no photographs were allowed inside the building.

We then made our way to Place de Tetre where I had a Cappuccino which consisted mostly of cream…

Then we walked to the tube station to get to our next port of call, it involved a lot of stairs.  My poor knees got a little wobbly, so it was a good job it was time for lunch, which of course meant I was able to have a welcome rest before visiting Notre Dame.   I did smile as I rounded the corner and got my first view of Notre Dame.  I have been visiting Paris on and off over many years and I have never seen it free of scaffolding.  On this occasion the building itself was free of scaffolding, but there was a large scaffolding structure in the process of erection in front of the cathedral!!  I learned later that this is part of a temporary structure for the 900th anniversary celebrations next year.  It will allow people to see the cathedral details from a closer perspective.  I think that is a good enough excuse for me to go back next year   After Notre Dame we visited the Musee de Cluny which was close by, for several reasons the visit wasn’t quite as planned which was unfortunate.

More coffee and a long soak in the bath were needed after all that walking… Following my relaxation it was again time for our evening meal.  We ended up in an Italian restaurant where the Italian waiter spoke to us in French until it was pointed out to him that we were English by his boss   It is always a compliment when you get mistaken for a native of the country you are visiting   Whilst ordering my desert I got the opportunity to teach him the English word Cherry and how to pronounce it.  The desert was on the menu but he had not encountered the word before