After our epic adventure on the Eiffel Tower, we strolled over to see this place…
You might recognize it… it is a church that is famous both for its architectural beauty and its equal-opportunity, nondiscriminatory bell-ringer hiring practices.
The countries of Europe have a long-standing rivalry… and I don’t only mean in the military sense. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the moment there was a glimmer of light at the end of the Dark Ages, the Europeans began to compete with each other in two important arenas… that of Church and that of State… which were not always clearly separated. We already explored the way that the royal families tried to outdo one another by building the biggest, fanciest palaces in my hilarious series ‘Lifestyles of the Rich and French’ last week. I think we covered the houses of the rich and royal. Now we will explore the houses of worship…
For fifteen hundred years or more, the Europeans have been vying with each other to see who could build the fanciest churches. Oh sure, they say it is all done for the glory of god, but you can clearly see, looking back, how national and even civic pride played a huge part in this game of one-upmanship.
Now we, as tourists… and even those of us who aren’t at all religious… get to enjoy the benefits of this contest.
And it never hurts to pay attention to how old these buildings are. I mean, they were built way back before heavy machinery or even blueprints had been invented.
Obviously, the churches were judged for their sheer size, but there was much more to it than that. The intricacy of the carving work, the gracefulness of the symmetry, the grandeur of the entryway, even the proper placement of the gargoyles, all played a part in being chosen as one of Europe’s grand cathedrals.
You just couldn’t afford to be lazy.
This is just the front of this famous building… wait until you see the rest of the outside and what is inside past these fancy doors.
Who were the people who carved all these saints and martyrs? We will never know.
But they left us this incredible… wait… is that guy holding his own head??? The two angels on either side appear to be worried that he might fall over at any moment… which is understandable… and why is there a cow… or goat or whatever… and that weird dog thing over on the smaller column to the right? Undoubtedly it all makes sense from a biblical perspective.
These cathedrals are still in use, but the tourists far outnumber the worshippers. This is the true mark of the winners of this architectural battle of the wills. It might not be surprising that the French hold claim to many of the victors of this struggle, just as Versailles, which we visited earlier, is, arguably, the winner of the ‘which royal family can drain its own treasury to the point where the starving masses rise up in revolution just to build a palace that makes all the other kings and queens purple with royal jealousy’ contest.
But hey, what do I know, I was just there to take some pictures to share with you on a silly little blog.
Pouring My Art Out 
You have to visit York next time you get over to Blightly would love to see your take on the Minster and the Shambles
That sounds awesome… whatever it is… ha
Very nice.
thanks
Absolutely amazing how these cathedrals were built. I visited quite a few in Spain.
Spanish churches, as well as Italian ones, are more recent, and neither of Roman nor Gothic style . They are completely different . The only places outside of France where you can see some equivalents are Southern England, since the XIIth and XIIIth centuries did not know a clear difference between England and France, and the South-West of Germany for the same reasons .
They are all amazing!
Yes, no machines and no crap accepted .
?
I mean everything not perfect was destroyed and made again .
Oh. I really do appreciate your calling me to task for my historical inconsistencies. I am just trying to make this all silly and fun so I can post the trip pictures and relive the adventure.
yup
I need an official fact checker
wait till you see the one we went to after Notre Dame…
Your comments lack of some historycal accuracy man . Between the XIth and XIVth century, when Roman and Gothic cathedrals were built, there were no countries as we understand them since the XVIIIth century . Some “regional” lords, earls or Dukes, could take pride of their cathedral though bishops, who all were aristocrats, were more concerned. But this competition you mention had very little weight compared to the sincere belief people, lords, craftsmen or serves, had that they were working for their own salvation (don’t forget that Europeans of that credulous and uneducated time had about the relationship between Man and God.the same childish views as Tea Party and Bible Belt Americans of now ) . This idea of national competition in this matter is not relevant .
And about Versailles, that was built around a century before he revolution, it was not the cause of France’s distress . Unfortunately the following kings had found several other ways to drain the nation’s treasury in the meantime .
As an amateur historian I am aware of discrepancies between my version of history and the actual history… as an amateur humor blogger, I am going strictly for giggles and not historic accuracy.
Church building competitions are a very serious business. Back in the day, if your church wasn’t up you scratch then you would be laughed at and invaded, or something.
Or both at the same time…