Portal Of St. Anne

walwyn Sat, 09/25/2010 - 20:03
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Portal Saint Anne Notre dame cathedral Paris

 

The portal of St Anne on the right of the western façade was built in 1200 and is the earliest of the three portals to be built. The tympanum is actually dated to about 1150 and was once part of the earlier cathedral of St Stephen whose western façade was once 40 metres to the west of the present Cathedral.

 

Shortly after the sculpting of the tympanum of St Stephen, Maurice de Sully Bishop of Paris decided to build a new cathedral for the growing population of Paris. The cathedral was to be built in the new Gothic style, it was to be bigger and taller than the old St. Stephen with a square to separate the secular from the sacred, and it was be dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

 

This reused tympanum has a Romanesque central piece of the Virgin and Child, Jesus hold the Book of the Law, and on either side are censing angels at the extremes are the Bishop of Paris and the king of France.

 

The upper lintel contains scenes from the birth of Jesus. The annunciatation, nativity, and Epiphany. The lower lintel contains scenes of the marriages of Anne and Joachim and Mary and Joseph.

 

The Portal of St. Anne - Notre Dame Paris