The north tower is accessible to visitors via a 387-step staircase, while the south tower is home to the cathedral’s 10 bells. The two towers on the west facade, measuring 69m high, were built in the early 13th century. The first stone of what was to be a massive edifice measuring 130m long and 48m wide, is said to have been laid in 1163, in the presence of Pope Alexander III, but it took another 200 years to complete and underwent frequent modifications in the following centuries. The city had emerged as the centre of power in France and needed a religious monument to match its new status.Ī medieval basilica occupying the site chosen by the king at the eastern end of the Île de la Cité, one of two islands in the Seine, was torn down to its foundations so the new cathedral could be built. Notre Dame Cathedral was commissioned by King Louis VII who wanted it to be a symbol of Paris’s political, economic, intellectual and cultural power at home and abroad.

The cathedral was immortalised in popular culture by Victor Hugo in his Gothic novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame, later turned into a Disney film. Photograph: Patrick Kovarik/AFP/Getty Images Ken Follett will donate his proceeds from this book to the charity La Fondation du Patrimoine.The stained-glass “rose” rosace on the southern side of the Notre Dame Cathedral is threatened by the fire. Follett then tells the story of the cathedral, from its construction to the role it has played across time and history, and he reveals the influence that the Notre-Dame had upon cathedrals around the world and on the writing of one of Follett's most famous and beloved novels, The Pillars of the Earth.

The feeling was bewildering, as if the earth was shaking.' -Ken Follett ' treasure of a book.' - The New Yorker In this short, spellbinding book, international bestselling author Ken Follett describes the emotions that gripped him when he learned about the fire that threatened to destroy one of the greatest cathedrals in the world-the Notre-Dame de Paris. Something priceless was dying in front of our eyes. The sight dazed and disturbed us profoundly. 'The wonderful cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, one of the greatest achievements of European civilization, was on fire.

Ken follett notre dame