If only Cathedrale Notre-Dame-de-Strasbourg was the only attraction in the city it was well worth of traveling far and away to Alsace just to take a glimpse at something incomparably majestic you’ve never seen before. A fantastic, incomprehensible structure holding several titles of the most: how for the most tall building in the world until 1874 (142m). And it remains asymmetrical as the twin tower was never built.
It was started in early 11th century and completed by mid 15th. It took merely 400 years to accomplish this out worldly masterpiece of flamboyant Gothic architecture which is actually 1000 years old by now (!!!) and not in pitiful ruins of former grandeur but very much alive and striving and flourishing and breathtaking beautiful, leaving me only two words: surreal and eternal.
This image I edited a bit as well as the first one to create a Gothic mood.
A delicate lace made of pink stone covers every inch of this enormous beauty, orange at dawn, all shades of pink on a sunny day and all shades of purple in the dusk. The color palette is quite unique. Fantastic giant chameleon in 50 shades of pink. You won’t believe until you see and you won’t forget either, ever.
Resulting from Protestant Reformation The Cathedral was assigned to protestant faith in 1524, as soon as it was overtaken by Louis XIV it was returned to Catholics and redesigned inside once again in 1681. In between in 1539 there was a first Christmas tree set up and decorated inside.
It could have vanish in 1794
when revolutionary radicals les Enrages decided that the tower’s height is offensive
to principals of equality and came up with the
idea to demolish it. Miraculously the citizens of Strasbourg spared it
of gruesome fate. The proud tower wasn’t guillotined but covered with giant Phrygian
cap instead for the world to see. Whatever it took but it was saved until
suffered heavily in WWII Allies air raids of 1944. There was a very wise
decision to remove unique stained glass windows and hide in a safe place. They
were reinstalled soon after the war.
Today the strongest can
climb to the observation deck of the Cathedral to take in the birds view on city's unforgettable steep rooftops .
Beautiful as you can see. And a lot of reconstruction is going on daily basis.
The flourishing city is very busy to keep itself young and tidy.
My camera isn't sophisticated enough to show all nuances of color changes from orange to pink and purple. Neither can it fit in the whole structure into the frame. This is the video my husband recorded. It brings some perspective into the view.
Je suis très heureuse que Strasbourg vous ait séduite...
ReplyDeleteMerci pour ce très joli reportage.
Gros bisous à vous
I am spending my day drawing up elevations, and I just popped in during my latte break to see what you have been up to.. Now this is my making my elevations look positively plain by comparison! x
ReplyDeleteThank you Virginia for popping in amidst elevations. Inspirational, right?
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