CONCLUSION. THE SACRISTY, ETC.
Notre Dame was within comparatively recent times surrounded with
streets so narrow that vehicular traffic was impossible. Amongst the
most characteristic were the Rue de Glatigny and the Rue de Marmousets,
which, as late as 1865, preserved the dimensions, and something of
the aspect, of a side street in the middle ages. The _quartier_ thus
intersected literally teemed with churches of which nothing remains.
Amongst them perhaps the most important were those dedicated to
Saint-Landry, Sainte-Geneviève des Ardents, Saint-Pierre aux Bœufs,
Saint-Aguan, Saint-Marine, Saint-Luc, Saint-Jean le Rond, Saint-Denis
au Pays and Saint-Christophe. None of them appear to have been large,
and of some the origin and history remain obscure.
On the south side of the Cathedral stood the _Palais Episcopal_, which
was constructed by Maurice de Sully and added to by Matiffas de Bucy
and other prelates. On Feb. 14th, 1831, it was attacked by the mob, and
five hours sufficed for its complete destruction. The contents included
a library of 20,000 volumes, a collection of 1,500 manuscripts,
those of the ancient archives of the church, which escaped the
Revolutionists, a fine collection of pictures, and priceless works of
art of an ecclesiastical character. These were thrown into the Seine,
burned, or stolen.
The =Cloître= or Cloister of Notre Dame was on the north side and
at the east end of the church. It is difficult to say what was its
early aspect, but in the sixteenth century and afterwards it in
no way resembled the cloister of a monastery, but consisted of an
agglomeration of separate houses. It was in the nature of a College
of Secular Canons. It was similar to the Temple in London in that it
possessed gates of its own, which shut it off from the rest of the
city. The Cloister contained thirty-seven houses for the canons of the
Cathedral, who were allowed to have living with them their near female
relatives. No other women, lay or religious, were allowed to sleep in
the cloister. The tedious Rue du Cloître Notre-Dame occupies a portion
of the space on which the Cloister stood.
=The Sacristy= was formerly a part of the Palais Episcopal. It had
been rebuilt by Soufflot, whose work was partially destroyed in 1831. A
new sacristy has been constructed by Viollet-le-Duc in the style of the
thirteenth century. The exterior is richly ornamented with statues and
pinnacles. It communicates with the south ambulatory of the choir by
means of two covered passages, one of which leads into the _Sacristie
du Chapitre_, which contains a large hall, the room of the Chapter
above, which is the cathedral treasury, and a vestry for the canons.
The great hall has stained glass windows in which bishops of Paris are
represented.
It contains a crucifix and two statuettes by Corbon, a fine _armoire_
decorated with paintings of scenes in the life of St. Denis. There are
pictures in various parts of the building by Vaulos, Salvator Rosa,
Lebrun, Louis Testelin, Charles Poerson and others, but none of them
are of much note. A picturesque little cloister, with a fountain in the
middle surmounted by a crucifix, is one of the agreeable features of
the building. Its eastern arcade is glazed, the windows representing
scenes in the life of Ste. Geneviève.
=The Treasury=, once endowed with enormous riches, was despoiled at the
Revolution of all but a few objects of value. There still remains the
reputed Crown of Thorns (supposed to have been given to St. Louis),
brought hither from La Sainte Chapelle. The so-called Nail of the True
Cross formerly belonged to the royal abbey of St. Denis. These relics
are only exposed on Fridays in Lent. The reliquaries are for the most
part imitations of those which were formerly in La Sainte Chapelle.
Perhaps the most interesting of the objects exhibited is a gold cross,
probably of twelfth-century workmanship. It belonged to the Emperor
Manuel Comnenus, and was bequeathed by the Princess Anne de Gonzague to
the church of St. Germain des Prés in 1863. In addition there are the
relic of the True Cross sent to Bishop Galon in 1109, from the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem; the “discipline” of St. Louis; the
crozier in copper and wood of Bishop Eudes de Sully; the crucifix used
by St. Vincent-de-Paul at the death-bed of Louis XIII.; the pastoral
cross of Archbishop Affre; a silver image of the Virgin and Child
presented in 1821 by Charles X.; the _ostensoir_ given by Napoleon I.,
and services of plate presented by the same monarch and by Napoleon
III. The vestments are very magnificent, and include the coronation
mantle of Napoleon I. and the chasuble worn by Pope Pius VI. when he
crowned him. The _soutanes_ worn by Archbishops Affre, Sibour, and
Darboy in their last moments, marked by the instruments which produced
their violent deaths, have a tragic interest.
The somewhat obtrusively picturesque modern building to the west of the
Sacristy is known as the _Presbytère_. It has been often ridiculed,
and at times rather fiercely denounced, but if any building was to
be erected on the site, it seems difficult to imagine anything less
offensive. It is pleasing and unpretentious, and contrasts only too
favourably with the dull houses of the Rue du Cloître Notre-Dame, which
are as undistinguished as they well can be.
The space at the back of the Cathedral is laid out as a garden. This
is modern and somewhat formal, but it affords a fine view of the east
end, and constitutes a welcome oasis of trees and grass in a grey waste
of commonplace buildings. In the centre is a fountain with a statue
of the Virgin and Child, and fragments of sculpture and carving taken
from the church at different times lie about. The reader who wishes to
understand at a glance the various changes which have taken place in
that part of the French metropolis which lies in the very shadow of
the cathedral should refer to the second volume of the magnificent work
_Paris à travers les Ages_, in which a plan of the district in 1881 is
compared with conjectural plans of the same in the years 1150, 1550,
and 1750.
The huge open space west of the cathedral is the Place du Parvis
Notre-Dame. This oblong _place_ far exceeds the church itself in area,
and gives to the west front a somewhat dwarfed appearance. On the
left-hand side (looking east) is the vast Hotel Dieu, the modern name
of the hospital, known as the Maison Dieu, which for centuries has been
associated with Notre Dame. The present building was only completed
in 1877. It is from the designs of M. Diet, and is by no means of an
ornamental character, although the total cost was 36,400,000 francs.
On the west side of the Place du Parvis are the barracks of the Garde
Republicaine. Close to them is one of those open-air flower markets
which are so charming and characteristic a feature of the Paris of
to-day.
[Illustration: NOTRE DAME IN THE XIII CENTURY, SHOWING THE BISHOP’S
PALACE (L’ÉVÊCHÉ) ON THE LEFT.
(_From “Paris à travers les Ages.”_)]