History
article | Reading time6 min
Did you know that the towers of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral are not exactly identical?
Towers scrutinised from head to toe
They have an inexhaustible power of attraction. They can be seen rising into the sky from far, far away. They are familiar to us.
Their beauty and elegance make them majestic in the sunshine, mysterious and disquieting when the sky darkens. Victor Hugo made them Quasimodo's refuge in his novel Notre-Dame de Paris. They have been painted, drawn, filmed and sung about!
But beyond the literary and artistic wanderings that they inspire, do we really know the Towers of Notre-Dame?
DR - Jean-Pierre Delgarde / Centre des monuments nationaux
Let's start with the introductions
On the left is the North Tower, also known as the Great Tower. It was completed around 1240. On the right is the south tower, also known as the small tower, built in 1250 during the reign of Saint Louis.
These two towers are built identically: a solid base, a first floor with two high, long arched windows on each of its four sides , and a lead terrace bordered by an openwork balustrade.
Inside the solid base, on the first floor, there is an upper room which, in the Middle Ages, was used to accommodate pilgrims for the night as well as the poor who were unable to find refuge elsewhere. Here you will findan angled staircase enclosed in a stone turret with an openwork design.
Each of the towers has a belfry, encircled and protected by its bells . The belfry is the name given to the wooden framework on which the bells are suspended. The essential role of the belfry is to absorb the various horizontal and vertical thrusts of the bells when they are rung . In this way, they ensure the stability of the building when the bells are rung. To avoid an incident, it's better to have a well-shaped head!
They both rise to a height of 69 metres, and you have to climb 389 steps to reach the terraces that offer the best views of the cathedral and Paris.
DR - Pascal Lemaître / Centre des monuments nationaux
Identical towers... really?
On closer inspection, they differ in width : the one on the left (the north tower) is 14.91 metres wide, while the one on the right is 13.69 metres wide, a difference of 1.22 metres!
To date, there is no explanation for this difference. " It has often happened that the regularity of a building has been sacrificed to the need to respect the public thoroughfare or private property (...) It is possible that in Notre-Dame they were afraid of reducing the access to the bishop's house, between the church and the Hôtel-Dieu, too inconveniently by giving the south tower the same dimensions as the other " Notre-Dame de Paris, by M. de Guilhermy and Viollet-Le-Duc, Paris, Bance, 1856.
Almost two centuries later, the mystery remains...
There are other dissimilarities that the famous architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc was quick to point out. For example, "the large open archway is firmer and more widely composed under the north tower than under the south tower; the piers of the north tower, at the height of the belfry, have a greater number of hooks than those of the south tower".
These are just details, you may say! Certainly, but Viollet-le-Duc's assessment is unequivocal: " We prefer the north tower to the other, as its appearance is more grandiose, the details are better executed, the composition more beautiful, and the relationship between the full and empty spaces more pleasing ."Notre-Dame de Paris, by M. de Guilhermy and Viollet-Le-Duc, Paris, Bance, 1856.
DR - Centre des monuments nationaux
Rival Towers?
It is not only in their architectural and decorative aspects that the two towers are pitted against each other.
Let's take a look at the belfries that house the bells and drones. Bells were once the pride of a community. The reputation of a church, an abbey or an entire town depended on their range, and therefore on their size and number ( ....). A bell-ringing regulation from 1328 clearly contrasts the large tower (north), where the big bells are, with the small tower (south) - Régis Singer, Nuée Bleue, les beffrois et les Cloches.
The bumblebees can be distinguished from the smaller bells, the benjamines. The tone was set: the bells were low-pitched and audible from afar! From 1686 onwards, it was the sound of the bumblebees that accompanied the great hours of French history.
But the south tower has since taken its revenge: the 2 drones, Marie and Emmanuel, are housed here. Its current estimated weight (with floors and sound shades) is 115 tonnes, 14 tonnes more than the north belfry!
For the record, it was also from its heights that measurements were calculated to draw the map of France. Louis XV commissioned the famous geographer Jean-Dominique de Cassini de Thury to draw the map, and we owe him the division of France into départements!
DR - Pascal Lemaître / Centre des monuments nationaux
A question of points of view!
One thing is certain, whether you're on the North Tower or the South Tower, the magnificent views from their summits are spectacular and remarkable. The rooftops and monuments of Paris are swept into a circular view. The new spire, adorned with its cockerel, can be seen and admired up close.
The bird's-eye view of the cathedral's roofs reveals an important group of statuary : 12 apostles and 4 evangelists created by the sculptor Geoffroy de Chaume at the request of Viollet-Le-Duc in 1857.
Restored in 2024, these sculptures have been restored to their original splendour. The green paint that covered them before the fire had probably been the result of a previous restoration (probably during the 1934-1935 restoration).
The 360° panorama from the top of the Towers of Notre-Dame offers a unique snapshot - witness to the transformations of the urban fabric and life of Paris.
DR - Centre des monuments nationaux
