Notre-Dame du Bessin | Cathédrale de Bayeux

Notre-Dame du Bessin

Notre-Dame du Bessin is the Cathedral of Bayeux (yeah, another Notre-Dame). It's huge!

We planned to just have a quick wander around the Cathedral, and then go find lunch.

Info about the Cathedral

It took us a little while to find the Entrance (it was around the other side) but we found it eventually.

We spent about 20 minutes walking around when I spotted some people coming down from a stair case in the wall. I was feeling rather curious, so me and Allison decided to go up there to see where it led.

Cathedrale of Bayeux

These spiral church steps were really dark and sketchy, and to be honest we really didn't feel like we were supposed to be going up there, but we just kept going anywhere. After a few minutes of climbing, we finally saw a room with some light so we went in there. I was so grateful for a rest - I was really out of breath (so unfit) and the spiral stairs had been quite creepy!

In the Knave of the Cathedral

The room we ended up in had a good view over the town of Bayeux and out towards some woods (which we were later told used to be where a big Castle was - but that got knocked down/destroyed during the revolution).

There was also a big display board with some information about a bell on it. It was all in French so I didn't take that long to look at it. After a few minutes, some other people came up the stairs.

Memorial Plaque for British Soldiers who liberated Bayeux,
and Poppy Remembrance Wreaths in the Cathedral

A man started talking to us in French (I had no idea what he was on about) and Allison said that he was asking if we were with a guide. He then asked 'are you going down? or staying with me?' - which I understood. We were a bit freaked out about going back down the dark steps on our own so opted to stay with the tour.

There was also a Canadian couple, a French couple and an older French man with the guide who were all quite nice.

He talked for about 5 minutes in French about the display board, which I (surprisingly was largely able to understand). It was all about a bell which was made this year to commemorate 70 years since the liberation of Bayeux.

Display board about the bell

This bell was commissioned by the Bishop of Bayeux, and (I believe) paid for by 10 different nations, including Great Britain, Canada, USA, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany, and has a patron from each country - the British patron of the bell is, naturally, HRH Queen Elizabeth II. However, Queen Liz wasn't able to make it to the ceremony for the bell on 6th June 2014 so Charles and Camilla came instead (Fran says Kate & Wills were at that too).

View across Bayeux
(the woods are where the castle was)

The 70th Anniversary Bell

The guide talked all about how it was made - by metal being poured into a Cast etc. and about how the bell handle is a claw.

He also talked about the design on the bell which are symbols to commemorate 70 years of peace, although I don't remember exactly what it was.

We then walked up yet more steps to the room with four Bells. This was really difficult to get to and the steps got really narrow.

In the room itself, there were wooden planks to stand on which made a walkway around the room, but it didn't feel especially safe! If you looked down between the wood structure and the stone walls you could see ALL the way down. Terrifying.

The Bell Tower, Notre-Dame du Bessin

Our guide switched to 'Franglais' around this time so we were able to understand a bit more of what he was saying. He rang a couple of the bells for us and told us that these four bells are only rung for ceremonies, and that there were other bells that were used for the time. I think the largest bell in that room was 2 tonnes. He said the other bells in the other tower were 3 and 4 tonnes!

In this room, he also showed us some really old graffiti which had been carved into the stone walls - one of the oldest ones we could see was early 17th Century! People had also used charcoal too, but some of the charcoal graffiti that was lower down had been rubbed away.

The Bells of Notre-Dame (du Bessin)

We walked through some more slightly scary steps, and through a narrow corridor which led to the other tower. Here he showed us the recent renovations of the belfry (apparently they had been swinging and knocking the wall every time they rang the bells!)

We walked back down some much safer looking steps (better lit and smooth rather than dark and bumpy) and ended up in yet another room. In this room we were offered drinks and snacks. Allison was feeling really uncomfortable about this as we think we may have had to pay for the tour, but as we hadn't...

Very old Graffiti!
You can see the bell carved into the stone!

It was possible to
go even higher!

In this room, the guide showed us the cover that had been made for the 70th Anniversary Bell. It looked like a robe and had lace edging and laced '70' on it. The older french man told us that this was 'Dentalle' which is a special kind of lacework done in Bayeux. Apparently it took over 300 hours to make!

We also found out that this 'cover' will go into the Cathedral treasury where they apparently have lots of other valuable things, once it has been on display.

The bell cover made from Dentalle lace

Very old belfries (over 400 years old)

After this, we climbed back down the stairs (so many stairs!) and ended up back in the main bit of the Cathedral (but on the opposite side as we'd crossed over to the other side).

We thought we might have to pay (not that we would have minded as it was an excellent little tour), but the guide just said 'à bientôt', we said 'merci' and that was that!

View from the first bell tower
across to the other tower.

A wonderful place to visit, and with the tour it was amazing! I would agree with TripAdvisor saying it's the #3 Attraction in Bayeux!

More photographs from our visit at the Cathedral...

Intricate decor at Bayeux Cathedral

Stained Glass Window

Inside the Crypt

Lovely remembrance candles

Surprised they didn't use
the 'Bluet de France' for these...

Statues of Angels in the Crypt

Decoration of the pillar arches in the Crypt

The Organ (in repair),
else the tour guide said
he would have shown us that too

Notre-Dame de Paris

Our Lady of Paris

West View of Notre-Dame

Welcome Sign

Definitely worth a visit if you're going to Paris, and even better, it's free! (Technically. See below for my comments on the catholic money trap...)

I arrived at Notre Dame to a queue longer than the one at the Oblivion Ride at Alton Towers on my visit in 2006 (we had that fast-track queue jump there though). Ultimately I don't mind, there's not a huge amount of queuing going on in France and queues make the British feel at home; we do love a good queue!

Archway at Notre-Dame Entrance

Thankfully this one was moving relatively quickly, and was entertained by a variety of street performers including a female duo singing covers, a mime artist, painters, and street sellers with knock-off key rings and 3D paper cuts of the Notre-Dame.

There were also lots of people advertising guided group tours around Notre-Dame and the surrounding area in English, French, German, Japanese, Russian... These, however, would set you back between 20-30€  if you chose to follow around a dude with a bow/flag-topped stick.

Give a expected discretionary 2€ donation 

and light a symbolic tealight...

Personally, I chose to go for the individual audio tour in English. This costs you just 5€ and the hostage of some form of ID (to encourage the safe return of the audio device). On the plus side, they do take 50€ notes here, in case you were wondering! Unless you want to get arm ache by carrying it around like a telephone the whole time, thus meaning you can't listen to the audio and watch any video clips at the same time, you can turn it right up. This tends to lead to a few disgruntled looks and 'husssh' noises in your direction - it is a place of worship after all! If you want to spare yourself the arm ache, be able to watch and listen at the same time, and avoid the wrath of god-fearing Catholics, take headphones! (which I happened to have on me. Phew!)


For your 5€, you will also be given a very 'informative' bit of paper with a 'map' and numbers on it, detailing where you need to press the corresponding number for the audio tour. Until I got to about 6 I couldn't work out what it was telling me to look at. 'Look to your left and you will see a stunning example of one of the largest cathedral organs. This organ, known as the great organ, was built in....' *cue a confused me looking about wildly to see where this organ is, frustratedly walking backwards and then forwards to see if I've missed it or pushed the button too early* (N.B. I still have no idea where the organ was, or when the organ was built! Edit. The Notre-Dame Website tells me there's three, and that the great one is above you on the west entrance - so you have to turn around and look up).

Notre-Dame is a hulking great money trap for the Roman Catholic Church though, and is clearly desperate to get a minimum of 5€ from each and every one of the 13 million people that visit it each year (estimated annual income of €65 million+). There are donation boxes every few metres, tours, and even a shop (in the actual cathedral, very strange). They encourage donations for lighting tealights (2€), a mini candle (5€), large candle (15€) or a candlestick (4-10€), plus there are lots of other donation boxes too.

-

Rose Stained-Glass Window
(Probably the North)

The architecture of the Notre-Dame is really beautiful. Reminds me a bit of the gothic architecture at Hogwarts in Harry Potter (part filmed in Gloucester Cathedral).

The stained-glass windows are also very beautiful, and there are stained-glass windows everywhere. The stained-glass windows of Notre-Dame are regarded as some of the most intricate and most impressive masterpieces in architectural christian art. These were probably my favourite bit. They are so pretty and colourful!

The Cathedral of Notre-Dame is also home to some really impressive statues, and paintings. There are statues of various saints all the way around, including Saint Denis (first Bishop of Paris), Thomas Aquinas, and Joan of Arc. Some of these statues are lovely - I quite liked the one of Joan of Arc - but others are a bit odd. Saint Denis, for example, seems to always be portrayed with his head in his hands (like, detached). This does have some meaning though, Denis is said to have been martyred (by decapitation) and then to have picked up his head and walked 6 miles while preaching a sermon. Lovely...

Another very nice part of the Notre-Dame Cathedral are the choir walls which are decorated with artistic statues on both sides. One side depicting five scenes of the post-Resurrection Easter story of Jesus, called 'The Apparitions of Christ' (particularly him visiting the disciples after he rose from the dead), and the other with nine scenes of the Nativity Story and Jesus' childhood. These are really pretty and according to the audio guide have not been changed at all since they were built in the middle-ages, other than being repainted. There apparently also used to be a wall portraying the rest of Jesus' life, particularly his crucifixion but that isn't there anymore.

Rose Stained-Glass Window
(Maybe South?)

At the rear of Notre-Dame there are lots of interesting displays, my favourite of which was the little model of the Cathedral so you could see the architecture close up. There was also another little chapel which had a red glass case, supposedly protecting a thorn crown.

More Stained-Glass windows

Choir Wall with sculptures of "The Apparitions of Christ" 

Statue of St. Joan of Arc (1412-1431)
Born in Domrémy, burned alive in Rouen
as a heretic and a witch.
The decision to rehabilitate her reputation
was made at Notre-Dame Cathedral.

Thorn Crown encased in Red Glass
(Not sure exactly why...)

Statue of a Pope

 The Models of the Notre-Dame

Other Photos

North Stained-Glass Rose Window

Ornate gold box

Another little chapel - there are loads of these all
around the outside of the Knave and Aisles.

Another Shrine for Mary, the Mother of Jesus

Light one of these candles and be strongly encouraged
to fork out 5euros for the privilege.
It is a candle in Notre Dame after all...

Notre-Dame's Main Baptistry

Ornate decoration of the Saints (Entrance)
Saint Denis is the third from the left, holding his head...

Statue of the Mary and Jesus
under the arch between the entrance and exit

View of the side of Notre Dame

The Bells of Notre Dame

"Morning in Paris, the City awakes, to the Bells of Notre Dame..."

Outside the Notre-Dame, if you turn right and go around to the north side, you can see the four big bells of Notre-Dame. These are the newer bells of Notre-Dame which were made around 1850's to replace the ones melted down during the revolution. The largest bell, called Emmanuel, was spared and still rings in the South Tower.

The Bells are huge but aren't really mentioned in the audio guide or anywhere else (until you just happen to walk past them on your desperate hunt for a toilet).

           
Strangely, one of Paris' most famous novels by Victor Hugo (thanks Disney for adding to the fame), 'The Hunchback of Notre-Dame', was only mentioned once, in the introduction of the audio guide - "the Cathedral has always been a subject of much interest, and was even featured in the novel by the French author, Victor Hugo, which captured the hearts of many..."

Anyway, if you get a chance, Fran is right. It's a must-see.