Why Did They Build The Notre Dame Cathedral?!?

Question

I had just recently came back from a trip to Paris and ever since I came in eye contact with the Notre Dame Cathedral I had been obsessed over it. It is truely amazing but I havent been able to find the history of this wonderous church. I really want to know how it was made and why they made it!!! I have to know!! Please! I cant wait any longer D:

I NEED TONS OF DETAILS PEOPLE TONS OF DETAILS!!

Answer 1

The Gothic loftiness of Notre-Dame dominates the Seine and the Ile-de-la-Cité as well as the history of Paris. On the spot where this majestic cathedral now stands, the Romans had built a temple to Jupiter, which was followed by a Christian basilica and then a Romanesque church (the Cathedral of St. Etienne, founded by Childebert in 528).

Maurice de Sully, bishop of Paris, decided to build a new cathedral for the expanding population, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Although construction started in 1163, it was not completed until roughly 180 years later in about 1345. Built in an age of illiteracy, the cathedral retells the stories of the Bible in its portals, paintings, and stained glass.

Read on ....

Answer 2

I can't imagine that you have NOT been able to find the history of Notre Dame if you have been looking at all... there are TONS of information about that church.

That being said, it was as much an exercise in Politics as it was in religion. For a town or a village to become a "City", it had to have a Cathedral and the Parisi wanted to have a city... and the name of the island the Cathedral sits on is... yeaup... "City".

To see HOW it was built... look up "Cathedral Cranes"... that will tell you more about how those magnificant builings were constructed.

Answer 3

"In 1160, because the church in Paris had become the "parisian church of the kings of Europe", Bishop Maurice de Sully deemed the previous Paris cathedral, Saint-Étienne (St Stephen's), which had been founded in the 4th century, unworthy of its lofty role, and had it demolished shortly after he assumed the title of Bishop of Paris. As with most foundation myths, this account needs to be taken with a grain of salt; archeological excavations in the 20th century suggested that the Merovingian Cathedral replaced by Sully was itself a massive structure, with a five-aisled nave and a façade some 36m across." Joan of Arc was canonized here.

Answer 4

Took 200 years to build. Some people spent their whole life working on it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre_Dame_Cathedral

Answer 5

to have a church