Essay/Term paper: Notre dame

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Religion

Notre Dame


Notre Dame is a cathedral. The word cathedral comes from the Latin word
cathedra, which is the name that was given to the throne was called where the
bishop sat in his church. The cathedral was the house of God and the seat of
the bishop. The bishop is the powerfull leader of the church and the church
rules the land. Cathedrals were a sign of both economic prosperity and faith.

Building Notre Dame required a great deal of things, such as skilled
builders, millions of tons of stone, many workers, powerful leadership, and
above all else, lots of money. Most of the money, at first, came from came from
the middle class people, but kings and rich merchants ended up spending the most
on the project.

The man in charge of building was called the master builder. The people
under him were the master craftsmen, the manuel laborors, loaders, and piece
workers. For these workers, a day of hard work was worth about 2 or 3 loaves of
bread.

The stone used to build Notre Dame was gotten by digging in the ground for
it. In a location as close to where the cathedral was to be built as possible.
The stone was pulled up by oxen who could transport approximately 8000 lbs. in a
single load. The stones were held together by mortar, which was made by sand
and water mixed with lime.

Notre Dame is so tall, to make sure it wouldn't crumble, the builder had to
use framework to support their creation called a flying buttress. The roofs
were made from lead and gutters were placed to draw rain water from the walls,
The spouts to these gutters were stone "Gargoyles" that were carved to look like
monsters who spit water when it rained.