Notre Dame (Size: 5.5" W x 6.25" D x 7 1/8" T)

The Notre Dame Cathedral is one of nine miniature sculptures from the Luminiart Collection.  Click here to see images of the entire collection on the Artist's website.

The Notre Dame illuminated sculpture was modeled after the sublime Notre Dame de Paris (French for “Our Lady of Paris”). Dedicated to Mary, mother of Jesus, Notre Dame is one of the first Gothic cathedrals and considered the finest example of French Gothic architecture.  Notre Dame stands on the site of Paris' first Christian church, which was itself built on the site of a Gallo-Roman temple to Jupiter. In 1160, having become the parish church of the kings of Europe, Maurice de Sully, Bishop of Paris, deemed the building unworthy of its lofty role and had it demolished. The cornerstone for Notre Dame was laid in 1163, and the cathedral was completed around 1345.  Notre Dame was the first building in the world to use the flying buttress. Other notable features include its famous bell, Emmanuel, weighing over 28,000 pounds; its legendary gargoyles; the façade towers which measure 228 feet tall; the west rose window that is over 30 feet in diameter; the King’s Gallery, a line of 28 statues depicting the kings of Judah and Israel, which were decapitated by French revolutionaries who thought they represented French Kings; and the three portals depicting scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary (Portal to the Virgin), Christ judging the living and dead (Portal of the Last Judgement), and scenes from the life of Mary's mother (Portal to Saint Anne).  This Luminiart illuminated sculpture incorporates many of these features which was modeled after the sublime Notre Dame de Paris (French for “Our Lady of Paris”). Dedicated to Mary, mother of Jesus, Notre Dame is one of the first Gothic cathedrals and considered the finest example of French Gothic architecture.

During the early 19th century, the cathedral was in a state of disrepair and city planners contemplated tearing it down. French novelist Victor Hugo, an admirer of the cathedral, wrote his novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame to raise awareness of the cathedral's heritage, touching off renewed interest in the cathedral's fate. A campaign to collect funds to save the cathedral followed, culminating in its 1845 restoration. France's "kilometre zero", the reference point for distances along the highways starting in Paris, is situated in the square in front of the cathedral. It is here where a crusade was called and where kings and an emperor were crowned. We invite your imagination to travel to the Île de la Cité to experience the majesty of the monumental Notre Dame.