- 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
A Gothic Roof Structure
The implementation of ribbed vaults was a major architectural innovation of the Middle Ages. The architects conceived steeply pitched roofs, with the inclination of those at Notre-Dame being 55 degrees. At the time of its construction, deforestation and urban development made large timber scarce. Smaller sections of wood were used for the roof structures, increasing the pitch.
An initial roof structure was built over the cathedral’s choir with trees felled around 1160-1170. Some of the wood was already three or four hundred years old at the time of construction, corresponding to trees from the 8th or 9th century. The first roof structure has disappeared, but some of the wood was reused in the second roof structure, installed between 1220 and 1240.
A Lead Roof
A lead roof rests on the second roof structure, consisting of 1326 plates, each 5 mm thick, weighing a total of 210 tons. In the 9th and 12th centuries, church roofs were covered with flat tiles. Since Paris lacks clay deposits, a lead covering was preferred. In 1196, Bishop Maurice de Sully bequeathed 5,000 pounds for the purchase of lead.
19th-Century Restorations
The roof structures of the choir and nave survived through the centuries. However, Viollet-le-Duc planned the restoration of those of the transepts and the spire in the mid-19th century. Made according to the principles in force in the 19th century, they differ from the roof structures of the choir and nave, as the dimensions of the beams are more imposing and spaced further apart than those from the Middle Ages.