VOA文化艺术2024--Five Things to Know about Notre Dame Cathedral

Notre Dame¹ Cathedral in the French capital of Paris is set to reopen to the public Sunday after a five-year-long rebuilding project. The Cathedral had been badly damaged in a fire in 2019.

The Roman Catholic religious center is considered a jewel of Gothic building design, a symbol of Paris and is a popular site to visit.

The cathedral took 182 years to build between the 12th and 14th centuries. It holds some surprising stories. Here are five special things to know about this famous Parisian site:

The cathedral is considered France's geographic² center.

In front of the cathedral, a metal and stone marker in the road describes the place as the "starting point of the roads of France.'' This sign marks the starting point for measuring distances between Paris and other cities across the country.

The marker was placed in 1924, but the idea of the cathedral as the center of the nation dates to 1769. King Louis XV thought there should be a central site for France's growing system of roads. That idea tied the nation's geography to its heart in Paris.

Its famous statues were added in the 19th century

Those frightening stone statues on Notre Dame might seem ancient, but not all of them are what they appear. The gargoyles⁴ are monster-shaped elements used to direct rainwater away from the building. They have been around since the time of the cathedral's construction. But the monster-like creatures often seen in photos and movies are chimera⁵, and they are much newer.

In 1841, the French government asked the architects Eugène Viollet-le-Duc and Jean-Baptiste Lassus to repair the then-collapsing building. Viollet-le-Duc added these frightening-looking statues to make the cathedral seem more mysterious. He drew ideas for the chimera from Victor Hugo's famous book The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

How to tell them apart? Gargoyles resemble horizontal spikes⁷ coming out of the facade⁸ and have spouts¹⁰ to permit rainwater to flow out.

During the French Revolution, protesters changed Notre Dame.

During the French Revolution, there were protests of religious centers.

In 1793, revolutionaries took away the cathedral's religious symbols and renamed it "Notre-Dame de la Raison," or, in English, "Our Lady of Reason."

During that time, the cathedral held events celebrating science and new ideas and, for a short time, it was even used to store the alcoholic¹¹ drink called wine.

Religious services started again in 1795 under the rule of Napoleon I.

Statues without heads were found and repaired.

In 1792, revolutionaries also cut the heads off 28 statues from the front of Notre Dame, thinking the statues were of French royalty¹². They were really representations of ancient kings of Judah, from stories in the Bible, the Christian¹³ holy book.

The heads were thought lost forever.

But in 1977, workers working in a courtyard in Paris uncovered hundreds of pieces of stone sculptures. Experts confirmed they were the missing heads of Notre Dame's kings of Judah statues.

Today, 22 of the heads have been repaired and are shown at the Cluny Museum in Paris.

The 2019 fire exposed a worldwide lack of outdoor lead pollution guidelines.

The 2019 fire that almost destroyed Notre Dame caused a serious health risk. When the flames melted the top of the building, large amounts of harmful lead dust were released into the air and came down across Paris.

Officials found there were no rules to measure the danger of outdoor lead dust. This was not just a Paris issue - major cities like London and Rome, and even the World Health Organization - do not have guidelines for outdoor lead pollution.

The Notre Dame fire forced officials to take a closer look at their safety standards. It took four months for the city to complete an extensive cleaning of the city's streets even as visitors and the citizens of Paris walked around the cathedral every day.

Now that you know these five things, you can enjoy seeing the photos of the new Notre Dame when it opens to the public.

Words in This Story

symbol - n. an action, object, event, etc., that expresses or represents a particular idea or quality

gargoyle³ - n. a strange or ugly human or animal figure that sticks out from the roof of a building (such as a church) and is used to cause rainwater to flow away from the sides of a building.

chimera - n. a monster from Greek mythology¹⁴ that breathes fire and has a lion's head, a goat's body, and a snake's tail

resemble - v. to look or be like

horizontal - adj. positioned from side to side rather than up and down; parallel to the ground

spike⁶ - n. a long, thin rod that ends in a point and is often made of metal

façade - n. the front of a building

spout⁹ - n. a tube, pipe, or hole out of which a liquid flows

royalty - n. members of a royal family

courtyard - n. an open space that is surrounded completely or partly by a building or group of buildings

flame - n. the hot, glowing gas that can be seen when a fire is burning

1 dame   

n.女士

参考例句：

• The dame tell of her experience as a wife and mother.这位年长妇女讲了她作妻子和母亲的经验。
• If you stick around,you'll have to marry that dame.如果再逗留多一会，你就要跟那个夫人结婚。

2 geographic   

adj.地理学的，地理的

参考例句：

• The city's success owes much to its geographic position. 这座城市的成功很大程度上归功于它的地理位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Environmental problems pay no heed to these geographic lines. 环境问题并不理会这些地理界限。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

3 gargoyle   

n.笕嘴

参考例句：

• His face was the gargoyle of the devil,it was not human,it was not sane.他的脸简直就像魔鬼模样的屋檐滴水嘴。
• The little gargoyle is just a stuffed toy,but it looks so strange.小小的滴水嘴兽只是一个填充毛绒玩具，但它看起来这么奇怪的事。

4 gargoyles   

n.怪兽状滴水嘴( gargoyle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Week of Gargoyle: Double growth for Gargoyle and O idia Gargoyles. 石像鬼周：石像鬼产量加倍。 来自互联网
• Fixed a problem that caused Gargoyles to become stuck in Stone Form. 修正了石像鬼在石像形态卡住的问题。 来自互联网

5 chimera   

n.神话怪物；梦幻

参考例句：

• Religious unity remained as much a chimera as ever.宗教统一仍然和从前一样，不过是个妄想。
• I am fighting against my chimera.我在与狂想抗争。

6 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

7 spikes   

n.穗( spike的名词复数 )；跑鞋；（防滑）鞋钉；尖状物v.加烈酒于( spike的第三人称单数 )；偷偷地给某人的饮料加入（更多）酒精（ 或药物）；把尖状物钉入；打乱某人的计划

参考例句：

• a row of iron spikes on a wall 墙头的一排尖铁
• There is a row of spikes on top of the prison wall to prevent the prisoners escaping. 监狱墙头装有一排尖钉，以防犯人逃跑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 facade   

n.(建筑物的)正面，临街正面；外表

参考例句：

• The entrance facade consists of a large full height glass door.入口正面有一大型全高度玻璃门。
• If you look carefully,you can see through Bob's facade.如果你仔细观察，你就能看穿鲍勃的外表。

9 spout   

v.喷出，涌出；滔滔不绝地讲；n.喷管；水柱

参考例句：

• Implication in folk wealth creativity and undertaking vigor spout.蕴藏于民间的财富创造力和创业活力喷涌而出。
• This acts as a spout to drain off water during a rainstorm.在暴风雨季，这东西被用作喷管来排水。

10 spouts   

n.管口( spout的名词复数 )；（喷出的）水柱；（容器的）嘴；在困难中v.（指液体）喷出( spout的第三人称单数 )；滔滔不绝地讲；喋喋不休地说；喷水

参考例句：

• A volcano spouts flame and lava. 火山喷出火焰和岩浆。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The oil rushes up the tube and spouts up as a gusher. 石油会沿着钢管上涌，如同自喷井那样喷射出来。 来自辞典例句

11 alcoholic   

adj.（含）酒精的，由酒精引起的；n.酗酒者

参考例句：

• The alcoholic strength of brandy far exceeds that of wine.白兰地的酒精浓度远远超过葡萄酒。
• Alcoholic drinks act as a poison to a child.酒精饮料对小孩犹如毒药。

12 royalty   

n.皇家，皇族

参考例句：

• She claims to be descended from royalty.她声称她是皇室后裔。
• I waited on tables，and even catered to royalty at the Royal Albert Hall.我做过服务生， 甚至在皇家阿伯特大厅侍奉过皇室的人。

13 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

14 mythology   

n.神话，神话学，神话集

参考例句：

• In Greek mythology,Zeus was the ruler of Gods and men.在希腊神话中，宙斯是众神和人类的统治者。
• He is the hero of Greek mythology.他是希腊民间传说中的英雄。