- Plans
- The Architects of Notre-Dame
- Exterior Architecture
- Interior Architecture
- The Western Facade
- The North Facade and the Cloister Portal
- The Red Door
- The Saint Stephen Portal
- The Portal of the Virgin
- The Saint Anne Portal
- The Last Judgment Portal
- The Bells
- The Stained Glass Windows
- The Roof Structure
- The Spire
Not far from the Cloister Portal, the small Red Door gets its name from the color of its panels. In the Middle Ages, red was the color reserved for women. In iconography, the Virgin or “Our Lady” is dressed in a red robe, as seen in the stained glass of Chartres Cathedral. From the Renaissance onward, Mary is generally depicted in blue. In Christianity, red is also the color associated with the Passion of Christ and, by extension, with the liturgical vestments of Holy Week, preceding Easter. White is the color reserved for the pope, and red is the color of the cardinals’ garments.
The Red Door opens through a northern side chapel at the level of the third bay of the choir. Commissioned by Saint Louis, it was created by Pierre de Montreuil around 1270. It allows the canons to attend the service by directly connecting the cloister to the choir of the cathedral.
Saint Louis is depicted on the tympanum to the left of the Virgin, crowned by an angel. Marguerite of Provence, Saint Louis’s wife, is placed to the right of Christ. Scenes from the life of Saint Marcel, bishop of Paris in the 4th century, are represented on the arches framing the tympanum.
The Historical Monuments restored the Red Door in 2012.
