Saturday August 30, 1930

The agenda for today included a two-hour tour of Notre Dame Cathedral in the morning, followed by lunch at the hotel from noon to 2 pm. Then the group would board busses for another sightseeing trip in Paris, this time to Napoleon’s tomb.

On the route to Notre Dame Cathedral, the pilgrims passed many of the sites they had seen on yesterday’s tour: Place du Carrousel, Pont Neuf, Conciergerie, Place Saint Gervais, Place de la Bastille, the July Column, Place de l’Opera, to name a few. This would happen on other tours of Paris as well.

Notre Dame Cathedral (1) is considered one of the most interesting of the Gothic cathedrals of France. The facade of the church has three elaborately-decorated portals – the left portal depicts the life of the Virgin Mary, the central portal depicts the Last Judgment (2), and the portal of Saint Anne features Notre Dame’s oldest and finest surviving statuary and depicts the Virgin Mary sitting on a throne, the Christ child in her arms.

Some more of the things Josephine saw of the facade of Notre Dame Cathedral:

• The gallery of kings (above the portal): a series of 28 statues of the kings of Israel (3). The statues are replicas – the originals were decapitated during the French Revolution because the revolutionaries thought they represented the kings of France and so decapitated them. (In the 1990s many of the original heads were discovered buried across the Seine; they are now on display in the Cluny Museum).
• West rose window (32.8 feet in diameter), the largest rose window ever attempted when it was conceived (4). If Josephine looked closely, she would have seen statuary depicting the biblical figures Adam and Eve on the outer rim.

Notre Dame’s imposing and ornate towers became legend thanks to 19th century novelist Victor Hugo, who created a hunchback named Quasimodo and had him inhabit the South tower in the book, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” I wonder how many of the tourists had read that book.

After admiring the beautiful and interesting facade of Notre Dame Cathedral, Josephine and her companions then went inside.

The interior of the church measures 427 feet long, 157 feet wide, and 115 feet high. The group was told that to get the best view of the stained glass windows, they should stand right in front of the choir.

Some things Josephine saw inside Notre Dame Cathedral:

• North rose window which dates to the 13th century and is widely considered to be the most stunning. It depicts Old Testament figures – patriarchs, prophets, kings – surrounding the Virgin Mary. This window is the best preserved of the windows.
• South rose window which depicts the Christ surrounded by saints and angels.
• Treasury, which includes precious objects, such as crosses and crowns, made of gold and other materials
The pilgrims were also able to see a simple tablet that was unveiled by the Prince of Wales in 1924. This tablet commemorates the million subjects of the British Empire who gave their lives in the great war.

Upon exiting the church and entering the Parvis (the square in front of the church), the pilgrims saw a huge monument to Charlemagne (5).

One of the pilgrims on an earlier pilgrimage remarked that there were so many people at Notre Dame Cathedral, they could hardly move. I imagine that was experienced at many of the Paris landmarks the pilgrims visited.

That was a lot for the pilgrims to take in on a 2 hour morning tour! If Josephine were anything like her granddaughter, she would have wanted to stay until the very last minute so that she could take in as much as she possibly could!

Lunch was from noon to 2 pm at the hotel.

After lunch, the pilgrims departed around 2:15 pm for a trip to visit Napoleon’s tomb, located in the royal chapel under the golden dome of Les Invalides (6).

In 1840, exactly 19 years after his death, Napoleon’s body was brought back to France from the island of Saint Helen where he died in exile under British supervision.

The interior of Napoleon’s tomb is in the shape of a Greek cross. In the center is a large circular opening guarded by a balustrade and overlooking the tomb of Napoleon in the crypt. The tomb is of antique red granite from Finland and was presented by Tsar Nicholas I. The tomb rests on a pedestal of green granite from the Vosges Mountains.

See the Comments column for many of the things Josephine saw of the facade of Notre Dame Cathedral besides the very few I list in the major part of this narrative:

• The massive quartzite sarcophagus surrounded by a laurel crown and the name of Napoleon’s major victories. This sarcophagus contains Napoleon’s body. Looking at the sarcophagus are 12 female statues, called “Victories,” symbolizing Napoleon’s military campaigns. On the walls of the circular gallery are sculptures depicting his major achievements. There are six different coffins between Napoleon’s body and the massive red sarcophagus that the pilgrims saw.
• Statue of Napoleon depicting him in his coronation robes.
• The 351 foot dome’s central painting represents Saint Louis (King Louis IX) giving his sword to Jesus Christ, while the paintings around it show various other saints.
• Vaults of the governors of the Invalides, where the remains of the late Marshal Foche were placed until a definite grave was prepared for him in one of the empty chapels. Foche was a key French military commander during World War I. He helped secure victory at the First Battle of the Marne and the Second Battle of the Marne. This latter victory facilitated the end of the fighting.

On exiting the building, the pilgrims made special note of two statues of marble, representing Belgium and France shaking hands and commemorating their friendship, so firmly proven by the war.

Leaving Napoleon’s tomb, the busses traveled down the Avenue du President Wilson, named for President Woodrow Wilson.

The tourists saw”Place des Estats-Unis” (United States Square), which has statues of Lafayette and Washington (7), both by Bartholdi, the same sculptor who sculpted the Statue of Liberty that had been presented to the United States by France in the year 1900. There is also a monument to the American Volunteers who died for France in 1914-1918.

After passing many other interesting sites that were described on their detailed itinerary, the pilgrims returned to the hotel for dinner, scheduled for 7 pm. Most nights the dinner hour was scheduled from 7 to 9 pm.

In a separate post, Josephine's Journey has included some facts that it thinks are important to know in preparation for the entry of Day 17: August 31, 1930. It contains details about the various cemetery visits to be made by Party R on September 1-3, 1930.






Source: written by Carolyn Ourso