“Breath Paris in. It nourishes the soul.” – Victor Hugo

So sad that the Notre Dame Cathedral caught fire in April of 2019. Hopefully it will be restored to its former majestic beauty real soon. But for now, let me take you on a trip before it all happened … this was in September of 2016.

Notre-Dame de Paris or simply Notre-Dame is a medieval catholic church and is one of the finest example of French Gothic architecture.

But before going into the cathedral, just outside the Notre Dame, you will see an octagonal brass plate with the words “Point Zero Des Route De France”. It is hard to miss because lots of people are always standing around this part of the sidewalk.

Many countries have a point zero…so what is Point Zero in France? It is where all distances, within France, are measured as a distance radiating from this point.

This is the Red side door architecture of the Notre Dame Cathedral

Intricate iron decor on the doors on the facade of Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral

The Cathedral is covered with amazing gorgoyles. These gargoyles protrude from the walls and roof of the Notre Dame and they work as waterspouts and this carries water away from the building.

I am not an expert in architecture so I don’t aim to explain this, but let my photos show how beautiful the architecture really is. Individually crafted small statues can be seen all around the Notre Dame Cathedral exterior.

And this was how the interior of the cathedral looked like.

I have read that a lot of the statues, chalices, paintings, stained glass windows, sacred relics and many other artefacts were saved from the fire but is unknown what damages they may have sustained.

This is the landmark spire that was destroyed from the Notre Dame fire as seen from the Seine River.

This is how it looks like now.

Below: 📸 *theguardian.com

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