May 20, 2006
It was Pope Alexander III who ordered the construction of the Notre-Dame de Paris, which started in 1163. It took some 170 years of hard work to finish it. Its style is gothic, its fundaments are built on the remains of a Roman temple.

In 1793, four years after the famous French revolution, the Notre-Dame was plundered by revolutionaries and turned into the Temple of Reason and a wine cellar (...). Religion was banned in these days. The cathedral was even closed between 1795-1802.

Under Napoleon I religion was allowed again. In 1804 he crowned himself emperor and ordered architect Viollet-le-Duc to restore the building, replace the missing gargoyles and statues and to build the spire you see on the photo. It measures 90 m.