Dijon - Notre-Dame

Notre-Dame, erected 1230 - 1251, is considered a jewel of 13th-century Gothic architecture in France. The planar western façade is quite unique - as it opens like a large screen to the spectator.

The "screen" is 28,6 m high by 19,5 m wide. There are three levels. The lowest (here only party seen) has three arcades forming the entry into a porch. Above are two arcaded galleries, one above the other. On each of these two upper levels the arches rest on 17 columns.

Emphasising the top and bottom of these galleries are three string courses consisting of 51 (not water-transporting) gargoyles.

The original gargoyles were in place for only a short time. They were removed already around 1240, following a fatal accident. A usurer was killed on the church forecourt as he was about to get married: a stone figure representing a usurer became detached and fell on him. His colleagues organised the destruction of all gargoyles on the façade, except for one at the upper right corner that survived until the 1960s, when it was replaced.

The gargoyles which today decorate the façade were made in 1880-1882, during the restoration of the church.